A Rough Start
by AyaEisen
Summary: AU! Levy broke up with her cheating boyfriend and at the suggestion of her best friend Lucy's boyfriend, Natsu, she is to meet his friend. Some things happen the night of their intended meeting & so begins the rough start to their relationship. But when Gajeel's past comes back it threatens his happiness, Levy knows he's keeping secrets & she's not about to get herself hurt again.
1. Chapter 1

Levy adjusted herself in the mirror and fixed her hair before quickly unlocking the door and retreating from the one stall bathroom. Being the tiny woman that she was she quickly got herself lost in the crowd of the busy bar before anyone noticed her. Scoping around the room she quickly spotted the blonde she was looking for and made her way over. In her haste she managed to slam into someone nearly knocking herself over and spilling his drink all over the front of himself.

"Hey! What the hell?! This was an expensive shirt!" The man yelled back at a retreating Levy.

"I'm sorry!" Levy shoved a handful cash at the angered stranger and continued fighting through the crowd.

The man looked down and the handful of cash and his now ruined shirt and shook his head. "I would have been happy with a name and phone number personally."

"Levy!" Lucy spotted the bluenette and waved at her

"Lucy, I'm not feeling too well. I think we should go. Let's go. Can we go? I'm gonna go." Levy grabbed her friend's wrist and started for the exit.

"Levy what's going on?" Lucy looked at her uncomposed friend with worry.

"I'll tell you when we get home. GO! DOOR! LEAVE! NOW!" Levy was nearly pushing Lucy at this point.

"Girls! I still can't find my friend, Gray went to look for him. Is something wrong?" Lucy's pink haired boyfriend could sense the urgency.

"Levy isn't feeling too well so I think we're gonna head out. I'll call you later!" Lucy gave him a quick kiss before being drug out of the bar.

With that Natsu turned around to see his two friends just getting back. "Where the hell have you been?! Lucy and her friend just left! You tell me to hook you up and then you vanish on me!"

"I found him over by the bathroom. Where's my beer?" Gray walked over to the bar and reached for the beer behind Natsu.

"Sorry man. I was uh...busy." Natsu's dark haired friend gave a knowing smirk and ordered himself a drink. "Damn, didn't even catch her name." He said under his breath reaching for his drink the bartender was holding out to him. He could still smell her scent on him.

"LEVY MCGARDEN! You...you dirty little-"

"Hold on just a minute! I was going with the flow, he was rather charming under all that booze. And you have no room to talk, isn't that exactly how you and Natsu go together?"

"No. It wasn't in a bathroom. So what did he look like?! Was he good?!"

At this point Levy had her face covered with a pillow and was rolling around on the floor laughing while all the while red as a tomato. "Ummm he was tall, black hair and oooh he had these piercing red eyes!"

Lucy was sitting on the couch watching her best friend roll around and waiting for her to answer the second question she had asked. She grabbed another pillow off the couch beside her and playfully hit Levy with it."And."

Levy looked at Lucy knowing she was not satisfied. "I came?" She rolled over onto her stomach and made certain not to catch Lucy's glare.

"Was that a question?" Lucy got up from the couch and walked over to the kitchen opening up the fridge and began to dig around for something to eat. Calling over her shoulder, "What about Natsu's friend?"

"Hey it's not like I'm going to chase after this guy! Tonight was fun but seriously that's not my style. I'll definitely still meet his friend. Bring me some Tylenol in here when you come back" Levy draped her arm over her eyes.

"Already sore are we?" Lucy giggled and drop the bottle of Tylenol into friend's open hands and then handed her her own glass of water.

"My head hurts! Ha ha very funny!" Levy launched the pillow laying beside at her blonde haired friend. She slowly got to her feet waved a goodnight to Lucy and headed upstairs to her bedroom. After changing into a pair of orange shorts and a basic white tank top she laid in her bed and stared at the ceiling hugging a pillow close to her chest. _I wonder what his name was?_ She thought to herself as she slowly let sleep take her.

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 **Hello everyone! This is my first publicly posted fanfic, please R &R and let me know what ya think! I've got up to chapter 5 done at the moment but I'd love some comments before I upload them all! Thanks for reading! Xoxo **


	2. Chapter 2

Gajeel woke up with the headache from hell. _Ugh, last night really got to me._ He heard noise coming from downstairs and drug himself out of the bed and put on some gym shorts and one of his basic black tees. He made his way downstairs to see what all the commotion was about. He rounded the corner from the hallway and walked into the large open room, one side was the living room with two couches and a recliner and on the opposite side was the kitchen, a long countertop bar separated the kitchen from the living area. It was from within the kitchen that Gajeel found the source of the noise and a distinct smell of burnt toast.

"Good morning Metal Head!" Natsu was seriously way too cheerful this morning.

"Flame Brain. Are the others up yet?" Gajeel yawned and grabbed a drink from the fridge while trying not to breathe in the smell of the burnt bread. He then made his way back over the living area and flopped down on the large black leather couch and put his feet up on the coffee table. He reached over and grabbed the TV remote and turned it on and began to flip through the channels.

"No clue, the only other one here is your brother. Gray left last night after his girlfriend called him, Sting and Laxus vanished after we lost you the second time, I assume they're still alive. But you might have known that if you hadn't vanished again last night! Seriously man how do you just disappear? You didn't even get to meet the girls!"

"Oi! Who said I didn't meet a girl last night? I told you I was busy! I gotta get ready to go to work. When are you heading back home?"

Just then the sound of someone coming down the stairs interrupted the two men's discussion. "Someone put me out of my misery."

"Rogue! Good morning!" Seriously, why was Natsu so damn energetic.

Gajeel looked up at his younger half brother, he clearly did not look human. "Where the hell were you last night?"

Rogue had been living with Gajeel a little over a year now, he was attending the college close by and moved in with his half brother to save on boarding costs. Gajeel had graduated the previous year and got a job as a physical trainer at the big time gym downtown and told his brother he could live rent free but would have to help with utility costs. Natsu lived about 4 blocks away but crashed at Gajeel and Rogue's last night since the bar was closer to their place. He spent most of his time here anyway so even he would occasionally throw in some money to fund his habits.

Rogue had finally crossed the large room to crash face down on the second couch, turning his head out to face Gajeel. "I could say the same for you, asshole!" Just then a loud and rather annoying midi version of some horrific song started playing. "MAKE IT STOP!"

"LUCY! HI!" Natsu cheerfully spoke into his cell phone. "Yeah? You guys make it back ok? ...Good! Eh? ...okay, bye" Natsu hit the red button on his phone and walked into the living room. "Hey we're gonna meet up with all the girls later, I gotta call the other guys."

Rogue grunted, his head was now squished into a pillow. Gajeel got to his feet and started walking towards the staircase, "So I guess I finally get to meet the rest of the crew. I've got a few clients today but I should be done by 5." He stomped up the stairs to the bathroom to take a shower and get ready for work.

Levy stepped out from the bathroom wrapped in an orange fluffy towel and headed to her room. Lucy was sitting on her bed finishing up a phone call she could only assume was with Natsu.

"Bye! Hey Levy! Finish washing the shame of last night off of ya?" Lucy laughed and prepped herself for an attack she knew was soon to follow.

Levy chucked the closest thing she could reach at her best friend which happened to be a stuffed bear with a heart on his chest. "Ha ha! Was that Natsu? What's up?" Levy searched through her a drawer trying to find the matching bra to the pair of green undies she had just put on.

"Yup! We're gonna meet up with everyone later on! Juvia is meeting us here and Mirajane texted saying her and Cana would meet us at the guys' house!" Lucy hopped up to head back to her own room, upon passing by Levy she tossed the now headless teddy bear into the waste basket. "Don't you worry, we'll get you out of your funk! He was a loser, how dare someone cheat on my best friend! Ooooh if I ever see him again!" Lucy's face had turned red and she was balling her hands into fists.

"Thanks Lucy, you're awesome!" Levy pulled on a pair of short white shorts and was now looking for her favorite tank with matching headband. "Do you know anything about Natsu's friend?"

Lucy was already in the hallway at this point heading to her room so she yelled back. "Nope! I asked Natsu to tell me about him but that got me nowhere. According to him he's a badass with black hair."

"We'll that helps a lot."

Gajeel unlocked the door to his condo and walked in, he got back a little later than he had originally planned so everyone else had already met up. He hurried upstairs and took a quick shower and put some clothes on as he was looking for his boots he heard his cell phone ringing.

"Oi I'm going as fast as I can!"

"Gajeel-kun? It's Juvia, one of my friends said she left her purse on the couch. We met up there earlier, could you check?"

"Oh hey Juvia. Yeah gimmie a sec to get downstairs." Gajeel grabbed his boots and went downstairs to the living room and spotted a purse on the couch closest to the door. "Small blue one? Yeah it's here. I'll bring it. I'm leaving now." Gajeel hung up the call and stuck his cell phone in his pocket and grabbed his car keys.

His curiously got the better of him and he opened the purse to see which friend of Juvia's it might be, she didn't say a name so he figured it wasn't the demon or the drunk. Inside he saw a lanyard with a student ID card attached to it. He flipped the card over and looked at the picture. Staring back at him he instantly recognized the short haired bluenette. The corner of his mouth lifted into a smirk.

"Gihihi...well well well, so Levy McGarden was her name."

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 **Please R &R! **


	3. Chapter 3

Levy, Lucy and Juvia had decided to walk to Natsu's place and then from there take a taxi to his friend's place about 4 blocks away. She was wearing her favorite pair of short white shorts with an orange tank top edged with lace on the bottom. It wasn't too flashy, mostly comfy but gave her figure the right hug to give any guy a good impression. Her bangs were pushed back with a matching headband and Lucy had insisted or more like threatened her with some minimal makeup to really make her hazel eyes pop.

Juvia was busy texting her boyfriend Gray and wasn't paying much attention to what was going on with her three companions. When she had nearly walked into a second pole she figured it was time to put the phone away. "Which brother is Levy meeting? Juvia has known them for a long time even before Natsu. We were childhood friends. Juvia introduced Gray and Natsu to them!"

"Brothers?" Levy's eyes got a bit wider and she looked over at Natsu.

"Yeah! Gajeel is the older brother and then there's Rogue! They're cool! I crash at their place a lot, I made myself a key but I hardly use it. I usually go in the back through a window." He had his hands behind his head and was wearing a massive grin as he was walking. "You're only meeting one of em Levy! Well you're meeting both but only one of em is who I got in mind for ya!"

Lucy shrugged at the small bluenette knowing that he had given them no more information than they already knew, well except now maybe a name. But which brother was it? They finally reached the neighborhood and walked up a few steps to a rather large condominium. Juvia had spotted Gray's car in the distance and waited outside for him as the other three walked inside.

The inside was big and open. The kitchen was immediately to the right and a large living room to the left passed the entrance way. Natsu walked across the room and around a small corner and yelled upstairs that they were here then proceeded to head to a small room at the back of the kitchen. Lucy and Levy walked into the living room, Levy set her purse down and began to scope out the area. ' _For two guys living here it sure is pretty well kept. Impressive. This definitely earns them some points.'_ She was starting to sit down when Lucy poked her in the arm and pointed to a bookshelf with a smile. Levy's eyes lit up and she gravitated towards it.

Natsu had returned with two kittens in his arms. He walked over to Lucy and handed her one. Levy glanced at them in time to hear Natsu say their names were Pantherlily and Frosch. It was then that Levy finally clued in on a portrait wedged behind some stray books not properly put away from their last use. She picked up the picture frame, it looked a few years old but she instantly recognized who was staring back at her. Her stomach began doing flips and her heart sank.

"Oh my God." She silently said to herself as she practically threw the picture back onto the bookshelf and backed away. Lucy heard the thunk of the picture frame hitting the shelf and looked towards Levy who now looked like she has seen a ghost. She was about to say something to her when a rather deep sounding 'Hello' came from behind her

...

Gajeel finally showed up a little over an hour after he had originally intended to. He didn't mean to be running late, his client had asked for some extra time and he had said yes before he even realized it. He parked his car and headed towards to the small restaurant patio he knew where everyone was at. He had gotten a few questioning looks from people who saw him carrying the small purse. He didn't care, he was excited to finally confront the shrimp from the night before. She had done a real number on him and he wasn't going to let her get away with it. He finally spotted the crowd and instantly zoned in on the tiny bluenette sitting next to...ROGUE?! Wait, this wasn't the girl Natsu was setting his brother up with was it? He squeezed the purse and stalked forward with a glare in his eyes.

Laxus was sitting next to his long time girlfriend Mirajane when he noticed her looking off down the sidewalk, he followed her eyes and noticed the big lug stomping towards them. ' _The fuck is his problem?'_ Gajeel opened up the gate that separated the patio from the sidewalk. "Nice purse! Though I don't think it's quite your color!" Laxus poked fun at Gajeel while he took a long drag from his beer.

Levy turned around at the mention of possibly being reunited with her purse. Rogue was still watching her and noticed how her eyes grew at the sight of his brother and looked up curiously. Paying no mind to anyone else Gajeel spun Levy around to face him and plopped her purse onto her lap. "YOU! Isn't this my lucky day! You took off on me last night but you're not getting away today!"

"EHHHHH? You...you...NOT YOU TOO?!" Levy let out a large sigh and muttered an 'I can't do this' as she grabbed her purse, hopped off the stool and took off for the sidewalk.

Laxus, Mirajane, Gray, Juvia, Natsu, Lucy and Sting sat there wide eyed and mouths open. Before Lucy could compose her thoughts and take off after her best friend Rogue shot past her and hopped the patio fence running off towards Levy.

"OI! Oh hell nah! Not again! And why the fuck is he taking after her?" Gajeel took off after the two of them.

"What the hell just happened?" The group looked over to see Cana standing outside the small gate. They all shrugged and shook their heads.

Levy felt like she had been running for a decent enough distance before she stopped and put her hands on her knees and began catching her breath. She couldn't believe it. BOTH OF THEM?! Man she really did it this time. She looked up to realize she wasn't too far from the library she would go to after classes and decided she would go there and text Lucy where she was and then plan out how she was going to explain bailing for a second time. As she composed herself she heard someone coming up behind her, assuming it to be Lucy she whirled around.

"LU - You're not Lucy."

Was this karma? What had Levy possibly done to deserve all of this? She not only made a huge mistake last night but now she was dealing with her mistake head on and to make matters worse she had indirectly met the other brother last night as well! Bad things come in three right? Her ex was the first these two guys had to be the other two so it could only go up from here right? She regretted not saying yes to dating either of her childhood friends, at least they wouldn't have been this bad! She was even considering transferring schools at this point, but Magnolia University had the best English and foreign language departments in the country. She sighed. Standing before her was definitely not Lucy, it was Rogue and close behind him was Gajeel. ' _Just let me die right here. Random bolt of lightning go! Don't fail me now!'_

 _"_ Levy, are you okay? How do you know my brother?" He wasn't going to beat around the bush, he saw the way they reacted to each other and he just flat out wanted to know. He was already pretty shocked to see Levy again and he wasn't going to let this opportunity pass by him. They had been making some progress at lunch until he showed up and ruined it all. But his stomach was in a knot and he was scared to know how she knew him knowing how his brother is and the incident from last night didn't leave the best thoughts in his head.

Levy took a step back contemplating running for it again but she knew at this point her small legs wouldn't take her far or fast enough to get away from these two. "I met him last night..." She saw how Rogue's eyes grew larger and he was trying to hide the fact he was biting his lip in anger. She instantly threw her hands up in a defensive manner. "Not like that! That was a mistake, he was an accident!"

Rogue whipped his head to the side and up to make eye contact with his older half brother. Gajeel just glared back down at him. Rogue returned his glare to Levy only softening it slightly. "Whoa, you met us both last night and I'm the mistake but he's an accident? What the hell?" Levy could see the steam coming off the man and knew if she didn't explain further she might end up having to explain to the cops why she was a murder witness.

Gajeel put two and two together from the small conversation he had just heard and "SHE WAS YOUR GREAT CONQUEST FROM LAST NIGHT? This is the girl you bragged about taking advantage of?" Gajeel was seeing red, he honestly just wanted to give the shrimp her money back from ruining his shirt and maybe have her treat him to lunch. She was pretty damn cute and was excited at getting the chance to get to know her after he gave her a bit of a hard time from the night before and now she was the great conquest that his brother had been bragging about and that set him off. He could tell she was no great conquest and didn't come off as that type of girl on a normal basis, he had no idea why he got that feeling but he did. Now he just felt like pummeling his brother but stopped himself when he heard the sound of someone crying.

"Conquest? That's what you called me? Yeah, you were a mistake and it was a mistake that I actually agreed to stick around and meet you properly. As soon as I saw a picture of you at your place and put two and two together I knew at that moment I should have bowed out. But no, I stuck around, I figured we could be mature about it, I felt the tension between us after you figured out who I was and I just brushed it off. You seemed like a pretty nice guy and I was willing to overlook our mistake. Yes, mistake, because that's exactly what it was!" Levy was trying to talk through the tears but the more she said the worse they became. She was a hot mess at this point. "Your brother was an accident, I ran into him after our...I ran into him and spilt his beer all over him and ruined his shirt." Levy saw an available cab heading their way and quickly flagged it down and jumped in before either of the men could say anything. She sent a quick text to Lucy telling her she was heading home and to not rush back she needed a little alone time and would feel bad for ruining another moment for her and Natsu.

Gajeel turned and slugged Rogue. He heard a crack and was fairly certain he had broke his nose. He couldn't care less at this point. Rogue quickly held up a hand to his bleeding nose. "I learned from the best when it comes to women. You said yourself you had one last night or did you forget about that?" Gajeel made contact with Rogue's nose once again and now the thing was a genuine fountain of blood he glared down at him and began walking back to their friends they had left at the patio leaving Rogue to deal with his broken and bloody nose.

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 **As always please leave a review, let me know what you think. Chapter 4 will be coming tomorrow!**


	4. Chapter 4

Levy paid the taxi driver and stepped out of the cab. She was still a mess, even the cab driver had inquired about her but she just shrugged him off and said nothing. She climbed the stairs to the apartment she shared with Lucy and unlocked the door. She stepped inside and locked the door back. The apartment was by no means a large one but it wasn't small either, maybe a bit too big for the two girls but the rent was amazing and it was within walking distance to the university, so it was definitely a win.

She removed her sandals and set them beside the door then walked over and put her keys and purse on the breakfast bar separating the kitchen from a smaller dining area and then continued for the stairs. The stairs were beside the living room which had a couch, loveseat, recliner, a flat screen TV and three book cases full of books. Behind the stairs was a small hallway with a half bathroom. She climbed the stairs and passed the first bedroom which her and Lucy had made into their own personal study and library, it was also littered with photos on the walls and various awards the two girls had received. They loved books, Levy especially so the majority of them belonged to her. Near the end of the hall on the left was Lucy's room, she had her own bathroom, both of the girls did actually and at the end of the hall on the right was Levy's room. Levy's room was smaller than Lucy's but she had the bigger bathroom so they called it even. Even from the full bookshelves downstairs and in the study she still managed to have two full in her own room. She was a regular bookworm.

Levy let out a long sigh and decided the best thing to do right now was to take a relaxing bubble bath. She remembered Lucy had recently received a bottle of wine from Cana so she went to get that from her room, she knew Lucy wouldn't mind, she said screw it to the wine glass and took the whole bottle into the bathroom with her while she turned on the water and dumped in a generous amount of bubble bath. She thought it a good idea to text Lucy telling her she was home and that she owed her a new bottle of wine and to not rush back. After hitting send she plugged in the phone charger and set the phone down on her nightstand and began to remove her clothes. She tossed them into the laundry basket on her way into the bathroom.

Levy stepped into the bathtub and slid down after turning the water off, she played with a few of the bubbles and inhaled the lavender scent deep into her senses and felt her body finally starting to relax. Her thoughts finally caught up with her and they started with her ex. She had been living with him for just under a year, they had been together for two years, she thought about the night she had came home from work early and caught him with another girl. He fessed up and told her it wasn't the first time and she ended it right then and there. He did his best to stop her but it was a fruitless effort. She immediately called Lucy and it was decided she would crash at her place. Cana had been there at the time and told Levy she would get a few people together to go and retrieve her things in the morning. Lucy had mentioned the lease on her apartment had been up a couple months ago and she was wanting to move closer to downtown and closer to Natsu, that was when the two girls decided to get this apartment and move in together. This all happened about four months ago and she would like to say she was over it but she knew better. She took a long drink from the wine bottle and then her thoughts settled to the prior night.

...

It was the first time Levy had been able to let loose in a rather long time. She hardly ever went out with the girls while she had been with her ex so it was definitely long overdue. She had been putting back shot after shot and wasn't even sure what was up and what was down at this point. That's when Rogue showed up.

Levy took another shot and slammed the glass back down on the bar. She felt someone come up beside her and tilted her head up to take a look. "Well hey there." The man looked down at her with a cocky grim across his face, he was tall, though anyone and everyone was tall compared to the tiny bluenette, and had these piercing red eyes. She looked him up and down and smirked. The song changed and she grabbed his hand and drug him out onto the floor.

She grinded her small body all over him and his hands felt every possible surface of her body he could manage without alerting any friend of her's that may be close by. He was supposed to be meeting a girl tonight, Natsu said he would hook him up with a friend of his girlfriend's but last he checked Natsu said they weren't here yet so he figured a little fun never hurt anyone, plus the plans he had for this little lady probably weren't able to carry over to this friend of Natsu's. Levy turned herself around in his arms and pressed herself against him while wrapping her arms around his neck, that was when he grabbed either side of her face and pressed his lips to her's and plunged his tongue into the cavern of her mouth. She didn't pull away, just gave him better access.

Levy was supposed to be meeting up with a friend of Natsu's, but him and Lucy had their own tongues shoved down each other's throats so she had wandered off to have herself a bit of fun before she could regret coming here for the night. Now she was making out with some stranger on the dance floor and wasn't entirely convinced she wasn't passed out somewhere and this was all a dream. By the time she realized it he had managed to drag her into the bathroom, locked the door and had returned to her lips. Still feeling the strong effects of those shots, she went with it.

She felt a cold yet warm shiver go through her body and she unwrapped her legs from around his waist as the man dropped her back to the floor from the wall she had been previously held up against, that's when she got hit with the instant sober train. She looked up at the man who now had his arms on either side of her and his head hung down while his breathing was returning to a normal pace. She slowly removed her own hands from his upper body and shimmied her dress back down onto her hips, pulled up her underwear and ducked out from between his arms. She did a quick once over in the mirror and bolted from the room.

...

Levy opened her eyes and took another sip from the wine bottle. She definitely got the fun she had been looking for but at what cost? It was after that event she had ran into, literally ran or more like slammed into Gajeel. He was gorgeous to say the least and at any other moment she might have stayed and talked to him but at that point in time she just wanted out. She let out a long and exasperated sigh. Today had been the icing on the cake, who would have known Rogue was the guy Natsu was introducing her to! She had prayed it wasn't really him when she found that photo on the bookcase and when she looked beyond Lucy to see him standing in the room her heart had sank. They both had just stared at each other until realization hit them like a wave, a smirk darted across his face and he quickly hid it, she hadn't noticed it at the time but now it all made sense to her. He hadn't even seemed like that bad of a guy during lunch, she was willing to give it a chance. But to find out he had took complete advantage of her and labeled her as a conquest just sent her over the edge. And now the gorgeous guy she dumped beer all over was his brother! She could have easily patched things up with him but did she really want to deal with Rogue again? She wasn't too sure about that aspect. Man when she screwed up she did it big. "Go big or go home huh Levy?"

She took another drink from the bottle and realized she had finished it off. "Damn." She decided she should probably get out of the bath now, she had completely lost track of time. Getting out of the bath she heard the door open and close downstairs. She put on her orange bathrobe and walked out of her room towards the stairs. "Lu-Chan? That you?"

"Yeah!" She heard Lucy drop her keys on the counter and start walking up the stairs. "I got your text so I grabbed another bottle of wine on the way home. You have got some explaining to do!" Lucy met her at the top of the stairs with a wine bottle in one hand and two glasses in the other.

Levy let out a large breath, relaxed her shoulders and gave Lucy a knowing nod. She turned around to head back into her room, Lucy following close behind. Thank goodness she didn't have class till two tomorrow because it was about to be a very long night.

Levy spent the next two hours explaining everything that had happened. Lucy had chimed in when she needed to but otherwise just sat and listened to her best friend. "Lucy, I'm doomed to never have a proper love life. I will die being the crazy book lady, should I get a cat? Have I reached that point in my life?"

Lucy lost it at this point, she fell over onto her side and laughed into the bed sheets, she sat up and wiped the tears from her eyes and gave the bluenette a warm hug. "You are an amazing and beautiful person! You will not die alone as the crazy book lady, with or without a cat! Plus Rogue got what was coming to him, Gajeel ended up breaking his nose after he came back and told us what happened." Lucy took a long sip of the red wine in her glass, savoring the taste on her tongue.

Levy's eyes grew large and she nearly shouted across the bed at the blonde, "He told everyone?!"

Lucy nearly choked she set the wine glass down and with her free hand she waved it and shook her head while swallowing her wine. "No! Wait, let me rephrase that! From what I understood Rogue had already told all the guys, bragged about it more like, that he had taken advantage of some cute drunk girl and had his fun, but what they didn't know was who the girl was, Gajeel kinda filled in that blank."

...

Gajeel passed by Sting on his way back to the patio someone must have sent the guy after Rogue, he assumed it to be the demon woman. His knuckles stung a bit from the punch, Rogue was by no means a weak guy and with him being totally open like that, Gajeel probably used too much force, he didn't regret it though. He felt really bad for the little shrimp, and he was pissed because now he would probably never get his lunch, he would have to give her money back to blondie.

By the time he returned Cana had taken Sting's old seat at the high top table. He sat down at the spot where Levy had been and at that moment a waitress was handing out what they had ordered in his absence. He reached over and grabbed the tall boy that had been placed in front of Laxus and took a long drag and finished it off before loudly setting it back on the table. He didn't need to look up to see the dirty look he was receiving, he knew it was there just based off Mira's laughter. "I broke his nose. Twice."

"What the hell man?" Natsu had a mouthful of jalapeño poppers but still managed to speak somehow.

"That girl from last night, the one he was going on and on about, that was the shrimp." He heard a few gasps, mostly from the women. "Blondie I reckon you should probably make sure she's gonna be okay. I'm assumin' you already know, girls tell girls everything while they take a bath or cuddle in a bed. Ah shit." He finally lifted his head up from where it had been laying in his hands on the table top after finishing the beer. His eyes met with Cana's as she launched a fry at the pierced man.

"Is that what you think all girls do Gajeel? You're hopeless."

Lucy was busy texting away on her phone and chimed in, "She went home, she said she needs a little alone time. And she owes me a bottle of wine." She glanced over to Cana, "She took the one you got me and said she was going to go take and bath."

"Well half of my point was made." Gajeel pointed at Cana in a 'told you so' manner. "So yeah, the poor girl was Rogue's great conquest last night." Man did he feel like an asshole saying that, he was by no means a one woman man, in fact he had had his own fun that same night but he was never low enough to take advantage of a girl like that.

"But then how does Gajeel-kun know Levy?" Juvia asked the question everyone was curious about but just hadn't spoke up about yet. Even Lucy looked curious about this one.

"It was right after her and Rogue, I think she was makin' a break for it and the short stack slammed into me, she even managed to spill beer down me shirt." He was remembering the event perfectly, he remembered how her hazel eyes had briefly met his and he was just barely able to spot a small single tear escape from one of them. "I yelled at her, not real harsh like and she shoved a wad of cash in my hands, I guess it was to pay for ruining my shirt."

"She hadn't told me about that, well she mentioned she ran into someone but I had no idea it was to that effect".Lucy left out the bit of information about Levy saying the man had been absolutely gorgeous, she figured that was best kept a secret between the two of them at this point. "Sorry about your shirt."

"No biggie! I could care less, wasn't even mine! It was Laxus'!" He laughed and Laxus turned red with anger and muttered a 'God Dammit Gajeel' "When I found out that girl was her I was kinda excited, I wanted to give her money back and just have her treat me to a drink or lunch."

"More like treat me." Mira elbowed Laxus and giggled.

After that the group grew silent and finished off their orders, a few hours had passed and a bit of here and there chit chat had come and gone when Lucy decided she should probably head back. "Well I left her alone to an bottle of wine and a bath, I should probably head back and make sure she's not drowned herself." She gave a small yet passionate kiss to Natsu and headed off towards home.

...

Lucy had gone back to bed at this point, leaving Levy to once again lay in bed with just her and her thoughts. She got up from her bed and walked over to one of her bookcases and grabbed a book. "You're all that I need."She took the book back to the bed with her and climbed back in. She opened up the book and began reading and after a while she had fallen asleep.

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 **Whatcha think so far? Please let me know! Chapter 5 should be up tomorrow or Monday!**


	5. Chapter 5

**So I'll just tell ya now this chapter is fairly boring, but a necessary evil for story development. Don't worry the next two chapters are where the action starts...of the citrus kind, which let's be honest that's what you're mainly here for anyway! The next two chapters will be up this week, not entirely sure when because I'm spending a bit more time perfecting (or trying to) them because well citrus is a big deal! Anyway, enjoy! Let me know what you guys are thinking or if you have any ideas to share!**

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It had been a few weeks since the whole Rogue thing went down and Levy was back in full swing with classes and tutoring. It was Wednesday today and her Latin class had finished early, she was now waiting for her tutoring student at a coffee shop not from the University. She had only recently gotten into tutoring, her professors encouraged her to do it and they said it would count towards graduation credits, so now every Monday and Wednesday she would meet with various students and help them with English or foreign languages. Today's session was with a high school senior who was in desperate need of help or he would be failing his English class.

"I arranged some vocabulary words for you and decided to give you a prompt this time around. Use these words to write the prompt, I spoke with your teacher and he said this can be used as extra credit if I grade it appropriately." Levy handed the boy a notebook containing all the information she had just went over with him. She then began writing up a grading scale.

"Thanks" Levy noticed him look behind and beyond her but paid no means to it and went back to her own work. "Miss Levy do you have a boyfriend?"

Levy nearly got whiplash from the momentum of her head shooting upward to look at the student. "Excuse me?" She was shocked by his question and even more shocked when he just pointed behind her, she turned around slowly and standing there behind her wearing the biggest grin she had ever seen stood Gajeel.

Gajeel had just finished up training with a client. This client had been particularly difficult because they were demanding instant results and they just couldn't understand the concept of there not being an overnight fix. To make matters worse he wasn't even in his normal gym, it was currently being remodeled so he had to work out of the second location. He hated it, it was way too close to campus which meant way too many college kids. He had grabbed his duffle bag and made to call it a day, he had spotted her instantly across the street when he walked out of the gym and smiled to himself. _'Today just got a hell of a lot better.'_ He thought to himself. Who was that she was with though? Had to be someone from class, they both had books and papers scattered everywhere and the kid looked like just that, a kid. Now this kid was pointing at him and she was turning around. "Hiya Shrimp!"

Levy was stunned. "Gajeel? Hello. Um, is there something I can do for you?" She wasn't really sure what else to say to the man, it had been a while since she last saw him. "I'm a bit busy at the moment, I'm in the middle of a tutoring session."

"Ah! My bad!" ' _So that's who that kid is'_ he quickly leaned over to their table and grabbed a blank piece of paper and pen lying in front of the kid, jotted down some numbers and stuck the paper into Levy's hands and tossed the pen back onto the table. "I'll leave ya be, send me a text when you're done, I'll be in the area for a bit before I head home. Plus I want a proper apology! Don't think I forgot!" He turned around and waved back at her. Now he had to figure out something to do to occupy himself until he heard from her. Hopefully he heard from her.

A slight brush snuck across Levy's face as she looked down at the paper and read the digits to herself. "Oh, okay." She managed to get out before he was out of earshot, stuck the paper in her purse with her phone and looked back to the high school senior who was giving her a wink with a raised eyebrow. She just glared back and pointed at the notebook describing the homework she had assigned him.

Levy's mind was anywhere but on this tutoring session, should she text him when she was done, will it be awkward, what if Rogue will be there? She shoved that thought to the back of her head.

"Miss Levy? Hello? Earthland to Miss Levy. Holy shit the library is on fire!"

"WHAT?!" Levy jumped out of her chair.

"That got your attention! The library isn't on fire, you've just been zoned out and I couldn't get your attention."

Levy relaxed her shoulders and let out her breath. She rubbed the side of her temple and closed her eyes for a brief moment. "I'm sorry Dan. What's up? Have a question?"

Dan was laughing so hard he was in tears, Levy didn't appreciate this one bit. He told her was finished and would work on the prompt and have it ready for their next session. He packed up his stuff and waved goodbye but not before reminding her to text the man from earlier. Levy blushed and quickly shooed him away. She then pulled out her cell phone and before deleting numerous different messages she finally hit send for one on them.

...

Gajeel was just down the block and across the street at another patio doing his best to patiently wait for the bluenette to text him. He glanced across the street and noticed the kid walking down the sidewalk, at that moment his cell phone chimed with a new text. He dug the phone out from his pocket and couldn't help the smirk that came to his face as he unlocked his phone and opened the new message.

'Hi! This is Levy, are you still in the area, I'm finished now, no problem if you're not! :)'

Gajeel laughed under his breath and replied.

'Can't get rid of me that easy shrimp! You owe me! How hungry are ya?'

'Starving! Haha! Whatcha have in mind?'

'There's a place around the corner from where ya are, can't think of the name but it's next to the bookstore. Meet ya there'

'I know the place! See you there!'

Gajeel walked into the small restaurant and it didn't take him long to notice the short bluenette sitting on the far side in the corner near the window. He trudged over and slid into the booth across from her. He took out her original wad of cash, and held it up. "Hiya shrimp! This right here is your's. Ya got any idea how much ya gave me? Well being the nice man that I am I'll give ya the rest back after the meal! Then we'll call it even!"

Levy turned bright red and buried her head in her hands. "I'm so sorry for your shirt!"

"Wasn't even mine. I don't give a shit 'bout it! I just didn't wanna let this opportunity pass up!"

Levy looked up the man sitting across from her, she noticed now he had numerous piercings. Three over each of his eyes acting has eyebrows, rows down each side of his nose and under his chin. She wondered what they felt like and why he had them, then she noticed the rows on each of his arms. ' _I wonder where else he has them.'_ She instantly had to turn her thoughts elsewhere because she could feel the heat forming on her cheeks. She knew enough about the man from what Natsu had told her after she asked why he had chose Rogue. This guy had a massive reputation as being a womanizer and Natsu had wanted to set her up with someone who wouldn't carry that sort of rep, that hadn't gone over so well. But here she sat across from Gajeel Redfox and she couldn't figure out why she had agreed to, it was like her body had been on autopilot when she sent that text to him. She couldn't figure it out but yet she couldn't turn herself away either. His eyes were even deeper than Rogue's had been, a huge pool of mystery, they were hypnotic in a sense and yet absolutely beautiful, she was like a moth drawn to a flame and it took everything she had to stop staring and finally respond to him.

"I should really apologize to your friend then!" She was seriously considering dumping another drink on him so today didn't have to be the end of this.

"Nah, he don't care!" Gajeel gave a booming laugh and Levy followed with her own pint sized giggle.

The two ordered and spent the rest of their time talking about themselves and answering various questions. Levy told him about her moving out at 18 after her mother and father had passed away in a car accident, Gajeel talked about how his parents had separated and he went to live with his father after his mom got remarried and had another kid, he never actually stated his brother's name and Levy had picked up on that and silently gave him credit for not bringing him into their conversation. He also talked about how he had graduated university and now worked as a physical trainer and therapist, this didn't surprise Levy much the man was a solid rock wall of muscle and hearing about his love for working out only made perfect sense to her. Levy talked about her love of books, and how she was currently in her junior year of university and double majoring in English and Foreign Language studies.

They continued talking and lost all track of time until one of the restaurant workers politely told them it was closing time. They said their apologies and laughed to each other as they walked out. Gajeel had insisted on driving her home and Levy accepted.

Gajeel pulled up to the curb outside Levy's apartment. They sat in silence for a few moments before he finally spoke up. "I had a good time Shrimp, thanks for agreeing to see me."

Levy gave a soft smile and tilted her head slightly to look at Gajeel. "Me too, thank you. And thanks for the ride home."

"No problem." Gajeel watched as she got out of the car and walked up the steps to her place, she unlocked the door and before walking inside she turned around and waved, he waved back and before pulling away he made sure she was safely inside.

Levy shut the door and leaned her back against it. She smiled thinking back on the evening. He gave her butterflies but she wasn't sure where to go from here, his reputation was known but tonight had seemed innocent enough. She pushed herself off the door and walked into the kitchen. She spotted a note on the counter from Lucy saying she was staying at Natsu's for the night. Levy tossed her keys in the bowl designated for such and headed upstairs. She set her phone on her nightstand and walked over to her dresser and took out a simple pair of red pajamas and began to change her clothes. She then grabbed a book and settled herself into bed.

She was a few chapters in when she heard her phone chime. She reached over and swiped the unlock button. The massage was from Gajeel.

'Shrimp, I seem to have forgot to give ya the rest of your money. ;)'

Levy laughed at the message and began to reply.

'Is that right? I guess we'll have to meet up again huh?'

'Dinner it is! Friday at 6. I'll pick ya up! Night Shrimp!'

'Goodnight Gajeel'

Levy set her phone back down on the nightstand and turned over onto her side, it wasn't long afterwards she fell asleep with a smile on her face.

The next morning Levy was woken up by a meteor crashing into her bed and...hugging her? Levy's eyes opened and were met with chocolate brown eyes staring back at her and the biggest open mouth grin blanketed by wild blonde hair. "Good morning Lu-Chan" She said sleepily while yawning.

"Details! Share me your's and I'll tell you what he said!" Lucy giggled and released her best friend from her hug.

"What? What he said? You talked to him? When? What?!"

"Ha ha! He called Natsu! I just heard him through the phone and we'll I may have spoken to him briefly! He liiiiiiiiikes you!" Lucy smiled and made room for Levy to properly sit up in the bed, she also sounded a lot like Natsu's cat when he meowed for some reason.

"It was just lunch, that led into closing the restaurant, that led to him bringing me home. Now we have a dinner date planned."

"His plan is to just keep your money and keep going out on dates until you figure it out." Lucy laughed when she saw the red tint sneak across Levy's face. "I gave him a good talking to, don't worry." Levy's face dropped and Lucy didn't give her a chance to speak. "Have some faith! I just told him to take you seriously, I wasn't the only one I guess, he said Mira put the fear of Mavis in him! Natsu said he's never been this interested in a girl, so you're good! Let down your walls a bit, open up and have fun again!" Lucy saw the relief wash over Levy's face. "I'm gonna go make us some breakfast before class" As she turned to leave Levy's phone vibrated, glancing over she saw the contact name and gave a wink and a smirk to Levy who scrambled to untangle herself from the bed sheets to receive her phone.

'Morning shrimp! Blondie said you're done with classes at 1, I'll pick ya up and we're doing lunch. See ya later!'

Levy sent a quick reply then jumped from the bed. "LUUUUUUUU!"


	6. Chapter 6

**AN: For the sake of story progression and your want of lemony goodness, doing a bit of a time job here. But only a month and don't worry nothing major has been skipped, just two months of dating and Gajeel being a good boy, but him and me (and even Levy at this point) are getting impatient and wanna get to the good stuff ;)I also apologize for the length of this chapter...oops. Enjoy!**

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It had been two months since Levy's first date with Gajeel and she was afraid to admit to herself but she had fallen and fallen hard. She hoped he felt or was starting to feel the same, but he had yet to make any major move or go beyond a simple kiss here and there. Maybe she wasn't what he wanted, or maybe he thought she wasn't good enough. "Lu-Chan, I can't take this anymore, I'm going insane. What is going on in his head?"

"What are you talking about Levy? The man is clearly head over heels for you, Natsu said he doesn't ever shut up!" Lucy and Levy were spending this Saturday morning cleaning the apartment, finals had just finished up and now they were on spring break and as far as the apartment went they had severely slacked and let the place get a bit out of hand.

"He hasn't asked me to be his girlfriend and hasn't even given me a genuine kiss yet! I mean if he's trying to take things slow I more than appreciate it but come on!" Levy had just finished up cleaning off the bookcases and collapsed onto the couch.

"The man sucks with words, I'll beat some sense into him!" The girls hadn't even noticed when Natsu had walked into the room eating some leftover pizza from their fridge they had ordered the night before. "Seriously Lev, he likes you, a lot, but he's trying to not pull his brother's stunt, plus he knows if you two do seriously get together you're going to have to deal with Rogue, he's not sure whether or not you want to do that."

"I'm over it and could really care less, I can be a mature adult about this situation, I like Gajeel and if that jerk is a package deal so be it. I would be Gajeel's girlfriend, not Rogue's." Levy picked herself up off the couch and headed towards the laundry room attached to the kitchen to toss her dirty cleaning rag. "Natsu, has Rogue said anything about this?"

Natsu had grabbed himself another slice of pizza, "Oh he's pissed. He doesn't understand how his brother got you when he's the one with the rep, but he's not mad at you or Gajeel. Pretty sure he's over it too, but he doesn't say much to me these days, he's stuck up Sting's ass."

Lucy giggled and chimed in, "Wouldn't they make the cute couple?" Natsu just glared but Levy couldn't hold back the laughter. "See what you can do Natsu but don't be obvious about it! Please don't be obvious!"

…..

"Gajeel Redfox I am ashamed. If you don't do something someone else is going to snatch her away from you! Then what will you have to say for yourself?" Mira smacked the long haired man on the back of the head and walked over to sit next to her blonde boyfriend.

"Woman! Dammit! I got one hell of a rap sheet and the reputation to boot, I don't wanna drag her into all the shit, not fair to her!" Gajeel rubbed the spot on the back of his head where she had hit him. _Damn woman hit me hard!_ He thought to himself.

"Pretty sure she would have been gone long ago if any of that mattered to her. She knows about pretty much everything, no one has hid anything from her and from what you've told me you answer any question about yourself if she asks. I think she's accepted it, but she won't just wait around for you, I can speak from experience on that one." Laxus shot a quick glance to Mira who was sitting beside him taking a drink from her coffee mug and nodded her head in agreeance.

"I don't want to mess up what we have going on right now. If she says no, I'm not sure I could handle it, I would accept it and wouldn't blame her but damn, I don't wanna lose the shrimp. What we have right now is good."

Laxus started to talk but Mira gently put her hand on his his ushering an understood silence. "It's not good who's to say that next step won't be great? Women want closure, women want to know that you are their's and they are your's. I can promise you're putting doubt in her head and she's going insane on the inside. Like Laxus said, if anything from your past bothered her in the slightest she would have been gone long ago, but it's been what, two months now? You asking her to be your girlfriend is not going to instantly warrant a 'no' based on that. Laxus and me are going to head back now, you think things through, I'll be seeing Levy tonight and I promise not to say anything of what we have discussed but I also won't hold back my feelings if you happen to get brought up during girl time chit chat! Get a move on!" With that Mira stood up from the table in Gajeel's kitchen and went towards the door, Laxus followed behind her and gave the long haired man a firm pat on the back, Gajeel replied with a grunt for his goodbye and they walked out the door.

Gajeel looked over at the clock on the microwave, 11:12, he had just enough time to change his clothes and make it to the gym for his 12:30 appointment with a client. He hurried upstairs, changed into his gym clothes grabbed his duffle bag and car keys and headed back downstairs and out the door. On his way to his car he saw Natsu heading for him.

"Gajeel! Hey about Lev-"

"I KNOW!" Gajeel roared, he quickly opened the door to his car, got in, started it and drove away.

Natsu stood there and clapped his hands together, "Glad we had this talk!" He then turned quickly on his heel and headed back to his place.

...

Girls night was in full swing at Levy and Lucy's place, and nothing was off limits when it came to discussion topics. Besides the two best friends Cana, Mira, Juvia and even Erza was able to come, she lived a few hours away with her boyfriend. Cana had brought the booze and insisted they played truth, which was basically truth or dare without the dare aspect, and there was no holding back, what the four walls of Levy and Lucy's apartment heard that night would never leave that room. When everyone had finally started passing out for the night, Levy saw her phone light up, she grabbed the device and quickly adjusted the brightness setting before opening the message.

'Hey Shrimp, hope I'm not buggin ya, wanted to remind you I won't be around till after 6 tomorrow, promised Rogue I'd take him back home for a few days of spring break. I'll pick ya up on my way back through, how's dinner and a movie at my place sound?'

Levy gave a small sigh and smiled at the message, after what all she had talked about today and finally opening up to the girls that she fears Gajeel thinks of her as sloppy seconds put back on the shelf from his brother, she told herself that was crazy and there was no way he could think that about her. She sent a quick reply and rolled over to go to sleep.

'I'll see you tomorrow then, dinner and a movie sound wonderful! Goodnight Gajeel.'

'Goodnight Levy.'

…

It was 6 o'clock and Levy was finishing up getting ready, she had just got off the phone with Gajeel and he was about 10 minutes from her place. She was wearing a simple turquoise skirt and orange top and her favorite orange headband. She looked cute and the best part was she was comfortable. She heard a knock on the door, said a quick goodbye to Lucy and walked down the stairs to open the door. She smiled when she saw him, there he stood with his long black hair pulled back loosely in a ponytail, his piercings glistening as just a few of them was hitting the evening sun, he was wearing gym pants and a bsic dark green shirt, he looked tired from the drive. He smiled back at her leaned in and gave her a small kiss on the cheek. "Hey beautiful."

"Hello yourself,let me grab my keys and I'll be right out." She replied with a happy smile, he held the door while he watched her walk over to the counter, she was absolutely stunning, and her ass was perfect. Her ass in that skirt was beyond perfect and he couldn't help from biting his lip as he stared. She returned to the door and gave him a questioning look, he quickly snapped out of it and wrapped his arm around her shoulders as he walked her to his car after she had properly shut and locked the door.

They arrived at Gajeel's house not long after and went inside, Gajeel walked over and flopped down on the couch. "Ugh, that drive kills me. Gimmie a sec and then I'll get us something for dinner." He closed his eyes and leaned back against the couch.

"I'll whip us up something, you rest!" Levy made her way into the kitchen.

"Shrimp you aint gotta do that!"

"You just shush! Take a nap, I'll fix us something!" She opened the fridge and saw bits of things here and there and noticed some strips of meat in the back, she pulled out the meat and random bits of vegetables and decided stir fry would be perfect with what she had found. She woke Gajeel up about thirty minutes later and they sat down at the table to eat.

"Damn shorty, this is good! Cook for me more often will ya!"

Levy gave a big smile and nodded her head, "Of course! Anytime!" She had walked back into the kitchen to start the dishes. She had a small piece of meat left on her plate and tore it up even smaller and dropped the pieces into Lily's bowl, the cat meowed a thank you and swallowed up the pieces. "Rogue took Frosch with him, right? Will Lily be lonely?"

Levy felt hands wrap around her waist and Gajeel nuzzled into her neck. "Nah, Lily prefers when he's gone, that kitten has too much energy, Lily prefers to be left alone." He spoke against her neck and he could feel her shiver in his arms. Levy tilted her head giving him more access to her neck and placed her small hands atop his, intertwining her fingers with his. He gently lifted her up into his arms and carried her over to the couch. Levy wrapped her arms around the man's neck and nuzzled her head into his chest.

He sat down on the couch with her in his lap and he couldn't be sure or not but he could swear he thought she was crying. He gently pushed her away from him a bit so he could look at her face and sure enough there were tears. "Shrimp, what's wrong? Did I hurt you? Are you okay? I swear Lily will be fine!"

Levy shook her head and wiped the tear away and fought back the rest that were fighting to drop from her eyes. "Gajeel...what do you think of me? I...really…" She swallowed hard and forced it out, "I really like you, and I want more from you, but I can't figure out your feelings, you won't give me a genuine kiss, you haven't tried making any sort of move to make me your girlfriend in these past two months, I can't... I don't understand!" The tears won over and dropped from her eyes like a fountain, Gajeel gently wiped them from her face with his thumb. He was trying to find the words to say something back to her. Levy looked down while turning her head and closing her eyes, "Do you think I'm just leftovers from your brother?"

Gajeel grabbed either side of her face and before Levy could react she suddenly felt his lips against hers. She wasn't sure what was going on, her thoughts were all over the place but she could feel his lips, she could feel the passion, and desperation in them, she could feel the longing and the need behind them. They were soft and warm and moved against hers in a fury of desire, by the time her thoughts had slowed down enough for her realize she wanted to return the kiss he pulled away and all she could do was let out a moan of sadness and want for them to return.

"No. Absolutely not, don't ever think that." Gajeel closed his eyes and rested his forehead against hers. "I have been battling with myself for a while, I wasn't sure if I had the right to be with you, I'm not exactly a good person and to be honest the thing with my brother got to me," He could feel her tense up and he wrapped his arms around her and lifted his head to look her in the eyes. "not in the way you're thinking. I was scared you would think I was going to do the same thing, that you wouldn't be able to be yourself with me because he will be around, I can't kick my brother out so I was worried just him being here would keep you from coming to me. I...like you Levy. Levy I like you a lot."

Levy blinked and a few more tears escaped, Gajeel quickly kissed them away. "I never felt like that. I want to be with you, with everything I am I want to be with you." She lurched forward and collided her lips with Gajeel's.

It didn't take him near as long to return her kiss. They melted into each other, she wrapped her arms around him and pulled herself closer into him, he did the same with one of his arms as the other gently caressed up her back and rested behind her head as he drew her even closer. He ran his tongue across her bottom lip begging for entrance into her mouth, she let out a small moan as she happily obliged. He dove into her cavern and tasted every corner, she tasted so sweet to him. Levy adjusted herself on his lap, straddling him with her legs on either side of his and dove into him herself, her hands getting lost and tangled in his long black mane. He tasted like metal, and when her tongue began its battle with his she discovered he had a tongue piercing. When they finally broke for her, he continued placing small but with no less passion filled kisses on her lips and across her jaw.

"Is this what I've been missing out on? I would have made a move a long time ago." Gajeel continued to kiss Levy, now working down her small and slender neck. Levy smiled and gave him more access. With that Gajeel lifted her up into his arms once more and princess carried her up the stairs.

"Gajeel?"

"You're not going home tonight, don't worry I won't go any further than this right now, but I am not letting you leave here tonight." He carried her down the hall and opened the door to his room, closing it with a kick of his foot behind him. He gently set her on his bed and looked down at her. "I need to go take a shower, but make yourself comfortable, I'll be right back."

Levy sat up in his bed as she watched him disappear into the bathroom and close the door. She jumped up and walked around the room. The room was fairly large, bigger than her's, it had a decently sized closet and a tall dresser. The bed was huge, but then again he was a massive man so a small bed was definitely not an option, he had black sheets and a simple black blanket for covers and at least half a dozen pillows. She walked over to the dresser and opened a drawer, hoping it contained what she was looking for. She noticed the contents and instantly shut it back, "Not this one." She could feel the heat across her cheeks, she opened the second drawer and happily sighed as she found the one she had been looking for. She took out one his black shirts, shut the drawer and walked back over to his bed. She quickly slipped out of her skirt and shirt and slipped on Gajeel's shirt. The shirt swallowed her and came down to just above her knees. She began taking her headband out of her hair when the bathroom door opened revealing Gajeel drying off his hair and wearing nothing but a pair of darkly colored pajama pants. He was gorgeous and she was staring. Her eyes scanned across his broad, muscular chest, he was seriously stunning. He had a few scars across his body and she wondered how he got them, she felt something inside her coil and she squeezed her hands into fists to keep herself from lunging at him and running her hands all across the body in front of her. She quickly turned her back to him to attempt to compose herself. Gajeel smirked at the effect he had had on her.

He moved over to her and wrapped his arms around her, she turned in his arms to look up at him. "I borrowed your shirt, hope you don't mind, I didn't plan on staying so I hadn't thought to bring anything."

Gajeel leaned down and gave her a passion hungry kiss moving down to her neck and gently biting, "It looks good on ya shrimp." He then picked her up and put her back on his bed and crawled in beside her wrapping his arms around her and pulling her in close. Her head fell onto his chest and he could feel her snuggle up closer. After a few moments he broke the silence, "Listen, I'm not good with words and I've never done this before." He paused trying to find the right words to say.

Levy laid there listening but when a few long moments of silence had come to pass she shifted herself and rested her hands on his chest where her head and once been and looked up at him, "Gajeel? What's wrong?"

He looked down into her deep hazel eyes took a long breath and finished his statement, "Would you be mine?" He felt her shift again and lift herself up above him, now he was looking up at her.

Levy smiled and looked down at him. "So long as you'll be mine."

"Gihihi, consider me your's." He brought her face back down to meet his and kissed her with all he had. He could feel her smile against his lips. She then snuggled up against him after giving him another quick kiss and they fell asleep in each other's arms.

* * *

 **Once again sorry for the massive chapter length! Hope you guys are enjoying this, please let me know!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Hello! So I had a very rough time with this chapter, I actually wrote it like 4 different times. Ugh. I hope you guys like it. Lemon warning near the end!**

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Gajeel woke up, blinking a few times before finally focusing and turning over to see the wild mess of blue hair laying beside him. He smiled and chuckled softly to himself as he reached out and gently stroked his now girlfriend's crazed blue hair. She was laying on her stomach with one hand under her cheek and the other gently laying on his upper arm. He reached over to check the time on his phone, Lily had got mad one night and had broke the clock on his nightstand. He also noticed a text from Natsu and after sending a quick reply Gajeel went back to gently caressing Levy moving down to her back making patterns with his fingers. Levy began to stir under his touch and it wasn't long before her hazel eyes began blinking, the hand that was once touching Gajeel now rubbed at her eyes as she adjusted to waking up.

Levy lifted herself up on her opposite arm and gave a small yawn. "Good morning" She said sleepily with a smile plastered across her face.

Gajeel's heart seemed to skip a beat. "Mornin' Shrimp!" He moved his hand to rest behind her wild hair and gently pulled her back down towards him kissing her softly. Levy returned his kiss, it was much softer than the previous night's but held just as much passion and need within it.

She finished the kiss with another even softer one smiling against his lips and rested her arms on his chest and laid her head down atop them looking up at the gorgeous man in front of her. "Nice bed hair." She said laughing.

Gajeel grabbed her around the waist and hoisted her upwards and onto his lap. "You're one to talk! You're a regular Medusa without the temper in the mornin!" He looked over her and relished that she was still only in his shirt and it was hiked shockingly high up on her thighs. Perfection. He grinned. _'Damn does she look good in my shirt.'_

Levy quickly tried to tame her hair by rubbing her hands through it, she noticed Gajeel's grin and realized the position she was in, straddling his lap clad only in his shirt. She climbed off of him and hopped from the bed. She began making her way to bathroom dodging his long arms that were begging to grab hold of her and drag her back into bed. She couldn't remember where she had lost her headband so she grabbed a hair tie lying on the sink and put her hair up. "What's your plan for today?" She walked back out of the bathroom to see Gajeel grabbing some clothes out of his dresser.

"What sounds good to you? I'm gonna take a shower here in a few. Natsu and blondie will be here shortly." He grabbed a pair of darkly colored jeans and a dark red shirt."

"They are?" Levy sat back down on the bed.

"Yeah, got a text from flame brain this morning they're taking off for a few days and asked if I could watch Happy. I told him to ask blondie to bring you some stuff so you're not strutting around in just my shirt for the day. Not that I particularly mind it though." Gajeel smirked and made his way back over to the small bluenette sitting on his bed. He could see the blush forming across her face. He leaned down and planted a kiss on her forehead.

Levy playfully shoved her massively sized boyfriend away and jumped back down from the bed. "Thanks! Go take a shower I'm gonna go make some coffee." She made her way out of the room and heard the water turn on behind her. She went downstairs and found the coffee, after she had the pot ready to go she fed Lily and pulled out two mugs from the cabinet.

Levy was happy. Genuinely happy. She hadn't felt this way in a while. She had been on a few dates since her ex but no one ever gave her that spark she felt from Gajeel. Their rough start of a meeting at that bar she was almost thankful for. Almost. Slightly. I mean I guess that night did lead her to where she was now but she would like to think that her and Gajeel would have eventually met regardless. Then she thought about maybe she was moving a bit too fast, they hadn't been an official couple for 24 hours yet and here they were sharing a bed and she was standing in his kitchen in nothing but his shirt and some panties. Gajeel was a few years older than her, he wouldn't do anything he didn't really want to and aside from a few mistakes here and there Levy wouldn't either. Who was to say there was a specific time line they had to follow, screw that. Her pace was the only thing that matters, well and Gajeel's but she knew her pace ran a tad bit slower than his. Levy was happy.

She heard the coffee pot ding signaling it was finished and poured herself a cup, she had nearly finished her cup when she heard Gajeel coming down the stairs. She smiled as he made his way over to her in the kitchen, he then promptly picked her up and set her on the counter making them eye level. She put her coffee cup down and wound her arms around his neck, his arms straddled her small frame on the counter. He closed the short distance and claimed her lips. Levy twisted her fingers into his shirt pulling him closer to her. Gajeel broke from the kiss and ran his nose down her cheek, knowing this tickled her.

"Get outta here and go take a shower. Upstairs, in my room." After he had tortured her enough with the tickling he then rested his head on her shoulder.

"But won't Lucy and Natsu be here soon?" She asked questioningly.

Gajeel stepped back gently picking her up and putting her back on the floor. "My point exactly, I'll be damned if he sees you looking like ya are now!" He gently pushed her towards the stairs and before she got too far away he smacked her butt, laughing as he watched her eyes grow huge and her mouth fall open.

"Gajeel!" She grabbed at her butt in a protective manner and did her best to pull down what she could of the shirt.

Gajeel laughed at her and wiggled his pierced makeshift eyebrows at her. At that moment there was a knock on the door. "Get on! I'll send blondie upstairs with yer stuff." Gajeel made sure the grade A ass was out of sight before he opened up the door.

Natsu walked in carrying a bright blue cat carrier and various cat toys. Gajeel just shook his head. Behind him Lucy walked in carrying an orange bag. "Oi, the shrimp is upstairs. Last room down the hall. Go on up." Lucy walked past him with a smirk across her face.

Levy was in the shower when she heard the bedroom door open. "Levy?"

"In here Lu! I'm almost done! Shut the bedroom door and I'll be out in a bit!"

Lucy shut the door and walked over to the large bed and set Levy's bag down. She then started taking a glance around but was unable to finish her inspection when Levy walked out of the bathroom. Lucy turned to her friend and smiled. "Details. Now."

"If there were any details to share I would!" Levy walked over and opened up her bag and grabbed some underwear Lucy had packed her. "I only slept here, nothing else, had to borrow his shirt. Though..." Levy paused as she pulled on a pair of shorts and orange flowy shirt, she also noticed the look Lucy had and she smiled.

"Though...and?"

"We're an official couple." Before Levy knew what hit her Lucy had screamed and flung herself and the bluenette, drawing her into a massive hug.

"I KNEW IT! OH MY GOD LEVY I'M SO HAPPY FOR YOU!" Lucy was squeezing Levy.

"Can't. Breathe." Lucy finally let go and Levy laughed. "Where are you guys going?"

"Ah! We're going to the beach! We'll be back Saturday. I gotta get going on that note, don't do anything I wouldn't do!" Lucy gave her a wink and escaped out the door.

Levy watched as her perky friend skipped from the room, she grabbed her headband from the bag and followed after her. When she reached the bottom of the steps and rounded the corner she waved goodbye to the couple. Gajeel shut the door and walked over to where Levy was standing. He took the headband from her hand and began putting it in place. Levy closed her eyes and relaxed into him, she giggled at his frustration with her unruly hair.

"There we go." Gajeel tied the long ribbon in place and then bent down to place a gentle kiss on Levy's lips. He then snaked his arms around her and gave her backside a good, firm grip.

"You had to go and ruin the moment didn't ya?" Levy playfully smacked Gajeel on his chest. "Do you have any clients today?"

"Not today I don't, tomorrow I have a few though. What's up?" Gajeel had slipped his hands into the back pockets of Levy's shorts and was looking down at her questionably.

"Well..." Levy started drawing circles on his chest with her fingers and turned on her cute factor, she was going to need it for her next request. "There's the spring carnival going on downtown, I would love to go!"

Gajeel tried not to make eye contact, he knew as soon as he did he would give in and was definitely not willing to give in so easily. He closed his eyes and leaned his head back slightly. He could feel Levy snuggling in closer. He peaked one eye open and glanced down at his tiny, adorable, deceivingly cute girlfriend. "The carnival? You think those things are fun?"

"Yeah! I've not been in a few years, but they're lots of fun! Haven't you ever been before?"

Gajeel met her eyes, "I was the one who always had to take Rogue, he'd disappear, spent most of my time looking for him and never had a bit of fun. Plus aren't those things for little kids?" He playfully flicked her nose "You might fit in perfectly shortstuff."

Levy puffed her cheeks out and pouted. "Come on Gajeel! We're going to the carnival!" Gajeel knew he lost this battle.

...

The carnival was busy to say the least, there were people everywhere. Numerous food stalls littered the sides of the streets. Levy had already made him eat a corn dog, candy apple, and who knows how many other fried things. He was going to have to spend some extra time at the gym, but it was worth it, Levy was having an absolutely amazing time and he loved seeing her smile. Plus he'd never admit it to her but he was having a good time himself.

Levy was playing a game where you toss a small ball into equally small fish bowls in hopes of winning a fish. When she finally got one in, Gajeel couldn't help but smile as he saw her smiling big and picking out which fish she wanted as a prize. She finally picked out a blue and red fish with a long flowy tail, the man explained to her that the fish was better off in a bowl by himself and gave her some fish food.

"Good job shrimp! Proud of ya! What are ya gonna name it?" Gajeel was standing behind Levy and leaning over her shoulder looking into the small container that currently housed the fish.

"I haven't decided yet! I can't just name him anything! It has to fit his personality!"

"Fish don't have a personality! Name him Hank!"

Levy turned around mouth agape and stared at her laughing boyfriend. She hadn't seen him laugh like that all day, actually she'd never seen him laugh like that since she'd known him and it made her heart swell. She started laughing herself. "Hank is hardly a dignified enough name for such a regal fish as this!"

"Prince Hank?"

"Gajeel. You're a lost cause." She shook her head while laughing and stood on her tiptoes to plant a kiss on the underside of his jaw. "You ready to head home?"

Gajeel had picked up on her saying 'home' but figured she didn't even think of it that way. Though he liked the sound of it. "Yeah, but before we leave I want one of those funnel cakes." He had seen someone eating one earlier and had asked Levy what it was.

"What's that? Gajeel enjoying the carnival?" Levy snickered as Gajeel retorted with a snort and followed her as she walked towards the booth that sold the delicious smelling sugary treat. When they approached the booth Levy handed him the fish now properly named His Royal Highness Hank, and Gajeel gave her some money. Levy had only managed to get a few bites of the funnel cake before Gajeel had practically inhaled it, only after she told him he better be nice to his clients when making meal plans did he decide to let her finish it off.

After stopping by a pet store and buying a simple aquarium, fish food and Gajeel had insisted His Royal Highness Hank have an aquarium castle, they headed for home. They decided for Gajeel's house to be the home for Hank since he didn't trust Levy enough to feed it, she had protested but he reminded her of how she often forgot to feed herself in between book readings and she had just rolled her eyes and gave in.

...

Levy had since long fallen asleep awkwardly on Gajeel's shoulder and equally long ago he had moved her head into his lap. Now he was gently caressing her blue hair and just looking at her. Really looking. He hadn't had someone make him this happy in well ever really. He had laughed today without holding back. She pushed his buttons, drove him absolutely insane, made him incredibly happy and he felt perfectly at peace with her. Who'd have guessed he'd finally settle down and with a girl like Levy at that. But he couldn't imagine anyone else, she marched right into his heart and set up camp and wasn't going anywhere, not that he was going to let her in the first place. He smiled while still stroking his fingers through her blue tresses. Levy shifted a little and her once peaceful slumber then turned to one full of snores.

Gajeel laughed as he lifted her into his arms and placed a kiss on her forehead, he then made his way upstairs to his bedroom. She had already changed into one of his shirts before they had started their evening on the couch binge watching movies. She had her own pajamas that Lucy had brought her but she had said she preferred his shirt. He didn't mind, though he really wanted to get her out of it to be honest, but he'd wait for her lead on that.

He laid her down on the bed, and laughed as she had already unconsciously stole a pillow from his side and rolled over. _'Pillow hog_ ' he thought to himself. He then turned around and made his way to the bathroom. He stripped off his clothes and turned on the shower.

His thoughts were with the small woman currently asleep in his bed, his eyes were closed as his mind raced. He was about to turn the hot water off and make this a very cold shower when he suddenly he felt two warm arms wrapped around his waist. He placed his hands atop her's and gently pulled her arms away from him enough so he was able to turn around and then replaced her arms back around him. She was standing there, naked. Her hazel eyes looking up at him.

"Levy." He traced his hands up her sides as they followed the curve of her hips and up the sides of breasts, he stopped to gently cup her cheeks on either side of her face.

"Gajeel." She whispered as she moved her head further into one of his hands and closed her eyes. She tightened her hold around his waist. Even with her eyes closed she could feel the heat from his lips mere inches from her own.

Gajeel moved slowly and captured her lips with his own. Their lips moved against each other in a heated passion. He didn't even have to ask for entrance into her mouth as her tongue suddenly with met his, they tasted each other delicately. Gajeel moved his kisses down her jaw and began to kiss, nip and lick at her neck. Levy had unwound her arms and now her hands were tracing the muscles on Gajeel's chest. He could hear her breathing hitch and a small moan escape from her throat. His hands ventured across her body, memorizing every curve, every part; as did her hands, with every touch the flame inside Gajeel would become larger, he wanted to engulf her, and he silently prayed she wouldn't stop him.

His mouth moved even further down her body, he was kneeling on one knee to compensate for their height differences and when he finally came in contact with her breasts he circled each her nipples with his tongue playfully, watching as she arched her back slightly and gripped his shoulders with her hands. He moved a hand down between her legs and gently spread them, he could hear her breathing become ragged and loud. Taking one of her smaller yet perfect mounds into his mouth he was rewarded with a sensual moan, as he let a moan escape from his own throat he moved his hand up the inside of her thigh and come in contact with the small pearl that hid amongst her lower lips.

"AH-H" Levy's eyes shot open, Gajeel was watching her from his kneeling position below her. He continued alternating sucking on each of her breasts and worked his finger back and forth amongst her folds, before slipping it inside of her. "Mhmmmm" He wanted to hear more of her sweet sounds.

Slipping in a second finger gave him an instant rush as she bucked her hips and a louder moan escaped from her mouth. When he'd felt satisfied with his work at her mounds he grabbed one of her legs and hitched it over his shoulder, Levy made quick to steady herself by reaching out to the shower wall. "Don't worry shrimp, I've got ya." Gajeel lowered himself and positioned his mouth near her heat he licked and sucked at her pearl. Levy bucked her hips, which only put herself more into his mouth as he sucked at her clit. His fingers reaching as far as they could into her cavern, twisting in circles and curling up and down, she was so warm inside and so incredibly tight. She felt wonderful and he hadn't even really had her fully yet.

"Gajeel mhmmm..."

"Let me hear you, come on baby." Gajeel continued thrusting in and out of her pussy with now a third finger and gently nipped at her clit, followed by licks and sucks. He could feel her release coming, her walls were tightening around his digits. "Come for me Levy, come for me" He tasted her release on his tongue, it was sweet, so deliciously sweet.

As he removed his fingers she nearly collapsed into his arms coming down from her high. Gajeel found her lips and lifted the two of them from the shower floor, turned off the shower and carried her back to his bed.

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 **So as I said I really struggled with this chapter so with that I would really appreciate some feedback! Pretty please! Tell me what you like, love, hate, anything! Give me something to keep me motivated! I've not started the next chapter yet so let me know what you'd like to see. Please! Thank you!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Hello! So if you didn't already notice I changed my username, it now matches with my Tumblr account, be sure to follow me on tumblr for story updates, prompts, random oneshots, and you're even welcome to give me a request! I'll leave the link in the bottom author's note but there is also a link in my profile. And without further ado...here we go! Lemon is present fyi.**

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"Gajeel! Mhmm!" She was so close to reaching the edge, he was working her over in ways she had never before experienced. She was still in shock with herself that she had done something so bold as to surprise him in the shower. She had every intention to be pleasuring him at this moment but here she was being seriously drove over the edge from mere foreplay. His tongue was doing crazy, insane things to her and she was seeing stars, if he didn't have a hold of her she was convinced she would float away, or just collapse onto the shower floor, either or.

"Let me hear you, come on baby." Levy could barely comprehend the words coming from Gajeel, she was so close, so very close. His tongue was tasting every part of her heat and his fingers were working her insides, she could feel her release coming on stronger and the tightening of her walls allowed her to feel even more of the pressure he was causing within her. She had one hand against the shower wall trying to hold herself up and the other was tangled in his wet black hair, urging him deeper and holding him in place. "Come for me Levy." His deep, raspy voice sounded and the heat from his breath followed by the gentle bite to her clit finally sent her over.

"Ga-jeel! Ahhh~" Levy moaned his name, her vision went white and she felt herself collapse into his arms. Weak at the knees was an understatement, her heart felt like it was about to pound right out of her chest, and she had to keep reminding herself that this was only foreplay. She felt his lips meet her own, she tasted herself on him, and she kissed him with vigor. The taste of her own self only turned her on more and she felt herself be lifted from the shower floor and without breaking the kiss they made their way back to the bedroom.

Levy felt herself hit the bed covers ever so gently. She broke the kiss and looked into Gajeel's eyes, his crimson orbs stared back at her with need and lust. She felt so small beneath him, but she also felt safe, warm, loved and wanted. One of his hands was wrapped around her waist while the other was resting on the side of her face. With a single finger she traced his lips and touched the metal studs below his bottom lip, then with both hands she traced the piercings going up his nose. She could see now his nose was slightly crooked, mostly likely from a break a time or two, she found it beautiful. She then ran her fingers over the studs at where his eyebrows would be and finally coming back down to rest on his cheeks. "You're beautiful." She whispered.

Gajeel gave her a gentle smile and moved closer, with his lips hovering above her's he whispered back to her. "You are the beautiful one. Absolutely beautiful." His lips met her's and all at once she felt his hardness enter her folds. Gajeel took her hand in his and held it above her head on the bed, fingers interlocked, with each thrust he'd squeeze her hand tighter and release. Levy bucked to meet his thrusts, arching her back to press herself against him, she craved his closeness. With her free hand she wrapped it around his arm to rest at the back of his shoulder, drawing him to her.

She couldn't keep her eyes off of him, and he never looked away from her. She wrapped her legs around his waist to pull him in deeper and she could hear his breathing hitch as he hissed. She squeezed his hand tighter hoping he would understand her wordless plea for him to go faster, harder anything that gave her more. She was pulled forward, never breaking their intimate contact as he brought her up onto his lap and their legs intertwining around each other. Levy gasped at the feeling of him gaining deeper access, she could see his smile at hearing her very satisfied moan. She moved one of his hands to her breasts as the other gripped her hips pulling her closer as she placed her's on each of his thighs as she worked her hips in circles; eyes never leaving each other.

Her breathing was sharp and ragged, the sensations she was feeling tight in her core were hot and twisting. She could feel herself stretching to accommodate Gajeel's size, it was a burning sensation and she loved every bit of it. Gajeel's breaths were deep and she could feel the warmth against her neck as he spoke, "Levy, you feel so good. So. Very. Good." He emphasized each word with a deeper thrust every time and Levy could feel herself climbing that mountain again.

The blue haired girl met each of his thrusts with one of her own, she felt his hand leave her breast and moaned in disapproval, but the look in his eyes only held a feeling of wanting more, and when she felt his hand reappear between them and rubbing at her nerve filled pearl her moan of appreciation was stronger and louder. She wound her arms around his neck and pulled him in closer to her as she tangled her small hands in his obsidian mane, tugging at the strands; Gajeel chanted her name like a mantra on his lips. Levy could feel his pace quicken and knew he was as close as she was and she was pretty damn close. The hand that had been on her hip now found itself at the back of her neck, holding her face closer as they both prepared to dive off the edge, eyes locked on each other, sharing the same warm breaths, Levy finally let go and let her head drop back as she screamed his name; Gajeel held himself deep inside her as she could feel him empty his warm release into her. Panting they returned their gazes to each other and Gajeel moved to her lips. The kiss was hot and full of passion, as their tongues danced their arms wrapped around each other and when they finally broke apart Gajeel rested his forehead to her's.

"Levy." Just hearing him say her name held more meaning to her than anything else that could have accompanied it. She sighed contently and moved closer to his chest.

He pulled her in closer as he removed himself from her heat and placed a number of kisses across her lips, nose and cheeks. Levy smiled and giggled at the kisses, she returned the kisses across his upper chest, collarbones and on the underside of his jaw. Happiness was a feeling shared between the two of them, that and an undeniable passion. Gajeel drew imaginary shapes on her back with his fingers and Levy melted at his touch. She could feel herself drawing closer to sleep and with a quiet yawn she said goodnight before she let herself be taken to her dreams.

…..

"...imp. Shrimp. Oi shorty, wake up, I gotta go to work." Gajeel gently nudged the small sleeping bundle.

"Hmmm? Gajeel?" Levy rolled over and sat up in the large bed rubbing her tired eyes. "It's so early." She yawned.

"I didn't think it was possible to have even worse bed hair but you outdid yourself." Gajeel laughed and then settled his eyes on her perfectly bare chest and smiled. "I tried wakin ya up for a joint shower but you growled at me. 'Member when I said you were a Medusa without the temper? You were full on Medusa."

Levy laughed as much as she could for it being 5 in the morning. "Don't be mean! Why are you up so early? Get back in here and cuddle with me, it's cold without you." Levy pouted and wrapped the blankets around herself, much to Gajeel's disappointment because now he no longer had the view he was enjoying a few moments ago.

"I got clients that start at 6, trust me I'd much rather be in the bed with you." Gajeel smiled down at her and then moved to his closet to pull out his leather motorcycle jacket. "I'm gonna take the bike today so if you need to go anywhere take my car, keys are on the dresser." He pulled the jacket around him and slipped his arms into it.

"Crazy morning people, there's not enough coffee to rule the world and wake me up and people want to work out at 6 am and take my boyfriend away from me well sorry people he's mine and his body is amazing and…"

Levy was like a drunk person this early in the morning Gajeel had decided, he laughed as he walked back over to the feisty little thing still wrapped up in his bed. He wrapped his arms around the bundle and kissed her lips. "As flattered as I am, I gotta be going shorty, go back to sleep. I'll see ya later." With another kiss on her pouting lips he somehow managed to pull himself away from her and go to work. What he wouldn't give to be back in the bed with her, but sadly physical trainers didn't get spring breaks.

…..

Levy woke up a few hours later and after a shower, making herself some coffee and feeding Lily and Happy she sat down at the table to get started on some her spring break assignments and prep for her tutoring sessions while she had the alone time. It wasn't long before her thoughts settled to last night's activity. She blushed vividly and smiled as she could feel her core tighten. She had never felt like that before, he did things to her she didn't know were even possible. Levy was by no means a virgin, her non virgin-ness was sort of indirectly involved with how she wound up meeting Gajeel in the first place. And she was sure without a doubt she did not get this feeling that night. She had never felt like that even with her old boyfriend, but then that also meant he had made other girls feel that way. Her stomach knotted. But maybe not, if she had never felt like that before it was possible she could have made him feel a first as well. She could still feel his warmth and the places he had kissed her. She still had the need for him within her, something else that was a first for her. She was quickly returned to Earth when the sound of her phone ringing broke her from her thoughts, the name on the screen said Jet.

…..

Gajeel had just finished up with his third client of the morning and didn't have another for an hour, so he decided to go bug Laxus since he should be finishing up soon with his client as well. As he rounded the corner to the main lobby of the gym he spotted him coming from the opposite hall. Plus he hadn't told him he finally made his move and he wouldn't have to deal with his so called "mopey ass" anymore.

"Oi Laxus!" Gajeel waved at the blonde man.

"Someone's in a good mood." Laxus walked up to Gajeel drinking from his water bottle and motioning to the back lot.

"I might be. You can tell that woman of yours she can finally lay off." They had walked to the back lot of the gym and walked outside to sit on one of the benches.

"So you finally sealed the deal eh? Mira will be thrilled to hear about that, she's been bugging me about it since she hounded your ass about it. Told ya the girl wouldn't run off."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. She's something alright." Laxus could see the faint smile and the look in his friend's eyes and knew what that meant, Mira had said he would get the same look sometimes when she caught him letting his guard down.

"You got it bad. Congrats man, I'm happy for ya. You need someone to keep you grounded, be good to her, don't fall back into your old habits."

Gajeel nodded his head and the two talked for a good while until the alarm of Gajeel's watch went off reminding him he had another client in 10 minutes. They said their goodbyes and Gajeel went off to his appointment. He thought back to what Laxus had said about not falling back into his old habits, he had no doubt that he had definitely left that world but it did still worry him that the world didn't leave him, he silently vowed he wouldn't fall back into those shadows and do everything in his power to keep Levy out of them as well. No one had made him feel the way she did, it was all a first for him and he'd be damned if anything came in the way of it. He wanted to fill her with all of him just as he was allowing her to fill all of him.

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 **Please let me know what you guys think, seriously your comments drive me and help me to update faster! Let me know what you guys want, hate, love, whatever! And as promised, here's the link to my Tumblr**


	9. Chapter 9

**Hello again! Enjoy! More grumpy early morning Levy to laugh at!**

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The rest of spring break had passed by way too fast. Levy had finished up all her course work and was actually ready to get back to classes whereas Gajeel was losing a few weekly clients, which he was more than happy for. It was Friday, Lucy and Natsu would be back tomorrow to get Happy and Gajeel had mentioned going to get Rogue as well. So today was essentially their last day together, Gajeel only had two clients today and then they had plans to go downtown and spend the rest of the day.

Levy had stepped out of the shower and slipped into her new barely there lace underwear and bra, she was determined to make use of their last day together. She was digging through her drawer - yes she had claimed a drawer in Gajeel's dresser - looking for her blue dress when was struck with the memory she had left it downstairs to dry in the laundry room. She finished getting ready then decided to head downstairs to get her dress and be ready for the day.

"Hello Lily! Happy! How are you guys today?" She stopped to scratch the ears of each of the cats as they rubbed on her legs and meowed happily back. Distracted by the cats Levy hadn't heard the door unlock and when the door opened and in walked a strange dark haired woman followed by even stranger, taller dark haired man she froze.

Levy had momentarily forgot her attire - or lack thereof of and stood motionless mouth hitting the floor. The dark haired woman had an equally shocked look spread across her face, her dark, burgundy eyes scanned across Levy's body and then she quickly shot out her arm to cover the tall man's eyes. "Oh." The woman had managed to let slip.

It seemed as though this moment had been going on forever but in reality it was only a few seconds before a somewhat familiar voice came from behind the assumed couple. "What's go- Levy?!" Rogue had come inside and immediately grabbed the blanket draping across the couch closest to the door before walking over and tossing it over the frozen bluenette. "I am so sorry."

Levy mumbled silently and fought back the tears from her embarrassment but she knew Rogue could hear her. "Laundry room. My dress is in there." Rogue quickly went and grabbed the lone blue dress hanging beside the washing machine and after handing it to Levy she retreated upstairs.

Levy wanted to die. What had just happened? Some woman and man she had never seen before in her life just saw her in basically nothing since her current ensemble was definitely not intended for covering _anything_ up, oh and don't forget about Rogue! She really wanted to just crawl into Gajeel's bed, pull the covers over her head and never wake up. He wasn't even supposed to be home yet! She grabbed her dress and put it on. As she was trying to gain the courage to go back downstairs she heard her cell phone ringing and breathing a sigh of relief she saw the caller ID was none other than her black haired, red eyed boyfriend.

"Hey." Her monotone voice managed to spit out.

"Shrimp, y'okay? I just got off the phone with Rogue, my mom and step dad brought him back he said and he mentioned they scared ya pretty bad. What happened?" He could hear her breathing hitch on the other end of the line and after a few few moments of silence he started again, "Shrimp?"

Levy took a deep breath before she answered him, "They just caught me at a bad time, and I am rather embarrassed they saw me wearing what I was in. Gajeel, I'm gonna go drown myself in the shower."

"Gihihi, what you wearing shortstuff? 'Nother one of my shirts? I doubt they really care."

"It's not so much what I _was_ wearing, it's more what I _wasn't_ wearing. Umm...you remember that little uh set you saw at the mall the other day?" She paused for a moment before fighting back a sniffle, "I'm so sorry!"

Silence. She could hear him breathing so she knew the line hadn't disconnected but he wasn't saying anything. "I'll be home in a little over an hour, there's no need for you to apologize." And with that the phone disconnected.

Levy breathed and when she had finally composed herself enough she could hear the voices from downstairs floating up to her ears. She couldn't just hide in here until he came home, even though she would love to. As she walked down the hall towards the stairs she was greeted by Rogue. He had an apologetic look on his face and was moving slowly so as to make sure she wasn't going to freak out.

"I am really sorry Levy. I mean I knew you were here but I didn't know...I'm sorry. Mom and Dad wanted to surprise Gajeel and well when he had mentioned you they wanted to meet you. I'm sorry."

Levy could see he really meant it, to be honest he looked scared to death. "How is it we keep ending up in these," She paused for a second trying to find the right words, "crazy situations?"

"Hey! You didn't say bad!" His smile was genuine and Levy couldn't help but laugh. "Come downstairs, I'll introduce you? Before Gajeel probably kills me." He turned around but still kept eye contact with her. When Levy nodded he turned his head and walked down the steps as she followed behind him.

Rogue's parents were sitting on the larger couch, Frosch was laying on the floor playing with Happy and Lily was grooming himself on the far couch, enjoying that freedom he had now that Happy had a playmate. As Levy came into the room they both stood to properly meet her.

The woman spoke first, "I'm Gemma, Gajeel and Rogue's mother. You must be Levy? I've heard a bit about you from both the boys. This is my husband, Skiadrum, Rogue's dad, Gajeel's step-father."

Levy shook both of their hands and smiled back, "Yes, I'm Levy. It's... it's a pleasure to meet you both." She subconsciously hugged herself.

"Well, the boy did good that's for sure. You can call me Skia." Levy's face turned the brightest shade of red, she could feel the heat radiating and that seemed to only fuel Skiadrum more as he took to laughing at her reaction before Rogue punched him in the arm and told him to knock it off.

Her embarrassment never really left but the atmosphere did become more normal. Before long Levy had told them about herself in a few minor details and Gemma had shared a few embarrassing stories about Gajeel. She was a nice woman, she was fairly tall with dark brown hair and dark eyes. She spoke with an accent but Levy couldn't figure out where it was from. Her husband, Skiadrum, was tall with a thinner than Gajeel's muscular build. He didn't talk much, but when he did Levy couldn't help but not meet his eyes, it wasn't that he was scary she was just still super embarrassed and she couldn't shake the feeling he was still remembering the sight from earlier.

The door flung open but the only one that flinched was Rogue. Gajeel stomped in, giving a loving look to Levy before standing in front of her and facing the two guests. "What are you doing here?"

Gemma spoke up first, "Well hello to you too! We thought it would be nice to surprise you! You didn't stick around very long Sunday so I didn't get to see you! Neither did Skia! Plus we wanted to meet the infamous Levy!"

"And boy did we meet her, good job boy!" Levy shrunk deeper into the small couch at his words and turned her face to the floor focusing on a small stain on the bottom of Gajeel's athletic pants.

"And ya wonder why I got the hell outta your house so quick. Shut your mouth old man haven't you ever heard of knocking? Anyway, we got plans I trust you'll be gone by the time we get back." Gajeel gently grabbed Levy's hand and pulled her from the couch, he gave another dissatisfied look towards the man then headed up the stairs to his room with Levy following behind him.

...

Gajeel and Levy had managed to escape from the house and made it downtown not long after he had returned home. Gemma had apologized for Skiadrum and whereas Gajeel didn't particularly have a problem with his mom, he couldn't stand his step father. Mostly Gajeel was pissed he didn't get to see the lacy number himself, Levy had told him she would wear it for him but he had insisted on throwing it away, the mood was ruined and he couldn't even look at the thing without hearing that dumbass' remarks, he was going to pick something else out for her today.

Levy wasn't about to argue with her boyfriend, she had been pretty disappointed herself so she agreed to let him pick something out while she went across the street to the bookstore. Though she was rather worried as to what he would pick out. Gajeel had only given her his trademark laugh and shooed her away to. Levy of course lost track of time whilst inside her definition of heaven and after she had bought four books she figured she had made Gajeel wait long enough.

Upon walking outside of the store she quickly noticed Gajeel was not outside waiting on her. She did a quick glance around and figured he must still be in the lingerie store. She shuddered and feared for herself.

"Excuse me?" Levy turned around to see a fairly tall, slender man looking down at her. He had two tone hair, one side black and one side white with dark eyes. He didn't wait to let Levy say anything before he spoke again. "The man you were with earlier, where is he?"

"Gajeel? My boyfriend? Oh he's," Her cheeks flushed pink knowing exactly where he was but she wasn't about to say that to some stranger. "He'll be right back, any second now. Who are you, do you need him?" The man was glaring at her and as uneasy as she felt she didn't want to show it. She just wanted Gajeel to hurry up.

"Give him this." He held out a piece of paper and when Levy took it he left as quickly as he had appeared.

"Oi Shrimp! Don't tell me you actually got out of the bookstore before me!"

Levy turned around to see Gajeel walking up to her she turned back around to where the man before had been, "Wait! He's...gone?"

"Who's gone?" Gajeel had come up beside Levy and wrapped his arm around her waist. "Shrimp?"

"There was a man just here, he was rather strange looking and told me to give you this." She handed him the piece of paper while she looked around the area. Gajeel took the paper from her and opened it up, a phone number was wrote on the inside. He didn't think much of it, there was no name or anything to accompany it, only a phone number and without knowing who the man had been he didn't feel inclined to care.. He stuck the paper in his back pocket and look down at Levy.

"What'd ya buy Shrimp?" Gajeel peeked into the bag she had in her hands from the bookstore.

"Shouldn't I be asking you that?" The grin that spread across his face had Levy's face sporting a very bright shade of red.

…

Much against Gajeel's pleasure the unwanted guests were not gone when they finally returned and if it weren't for the fact Happy was there and Natsu would be back in the morning he would have turned around and left insisting that they stay at Levy's place. He hid the outfit he bought for her and trudged back downstairs, Gemma had made dinner for them.

The night didn't go on for very long, Gemma and Skiadrum went to bed pretty early, they borrowed Rogue's room while he took to sleeping on the couch. Again much to Gajeel's displeasure Levy climbed into bed wearing one of his shirts and a pair of athletic shorts, she had wanted pants but they were much too big on her so she settled for the shorts. She was not going to have anywhere near a repeat of what happened earlier in the day even with Gajeel saying it would be fine since he were home now.

The next morning Gajeel woke up early as always, he gently got up from the bed and leaned over to place a chaste kiss on Levy's lips as she grunted and rolled over while also stretching herself out to take up the space Gajeel had just been in. How was such a small woman such a bed hog? He gave a silent laugh, shook his head, threw on a pair of lounge pants and headed for the kitchen.

"Good morning! I made breakfast, where's Levy?" Gemma was flipping a pancake and snapping her fingers at Rogue to get the plates.

"Gihi, she is not a human prior to 9 o'clock." Gajeel snuck around and tried to grab a piece of bacon before being whacked on the hand with a spatula.

"Well that's not any fun, she's gonna miss breakfast, I should go wake her up." Skiadrum gave a wink before he was also unsuccessful in stealing a piece of bacon.

Remembering the fact she had went to bed in actual clothes, how absolutely wonderful his little shrimp was in the morning and the fact his curiosity was seriously getting the better of him he motioned towards the upstairs bedroom and gave him a smirk, "Be my guest, it's your head." Skiadrum smiled with an err of confidence and mischief. He trotted off towards Gajeel's bedroom having no idea what was awaiting him, Gajeel _almost_ felt sorry for the man.

"What was that about? You're seriously going to go let him in the bedroom with Levy?"

Gajeel didn't feel the need to properly answer Rogue, so instead he just looked at him and took another long drag from the coffee cup his mother had given him. A few moments later a loud crash was heard as well as what sounded like a roar, an angry, vengeful, murderous roar. Rogue's facial expression was full of fear as he looked towards Gajeel, Gemma was shocked and walked into the room to look up at the stairs, turning to Gajeel to ask 'What just happened' with her eyes. Gajeel just continued drinking his coffee and smirking.

At that moment Skiadrum came running down the stairs looking like he had just escaped a near death experience, "WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT? Just what what are you dating?! Holy shit." He walked over to Gemma and could only shake his head at her questioning gaze.

"Aint she a doll?" Gajeel roared with laughter.

"That was Levy?" Gemma finally asked, Gajeel nodded his head as he finished off his coffee and placed it into the sink. "I should go apologize, I'll take her some coffee."

"Honey! Don't go in there!"

Gajeel made a cup of coffee for his mother to take upstairs, he knew most of the reason Levy had reacted that way was because it had been Skiadrum, and he knew he would eventually face her wrath as well for that prank so for now he felt safe enough sending his mother up there. He hadn't heard the door shut so he knew she hadn't gone back to bed. "Here, take this up to her. I'm not ready to get in trouble yet so good luck, I get that kickass stereo if she eats ya." Gemma laughed as she took the coffee and left to head upstairs to the monster's den.

"Did you ever finish your portion of the will?" Skia yelled after her.

…

Levy walked out of the bathroom, she had brushed her teeth and attempted to calm her hair, but it just ended up going in a high ponytail poof ball atop her head. She had changed into a pair of her own lounge pants and a simple shirt. She was spitting mad and knew that Gajeel had set her up, oh he was going to get it. He knew better than to wake her up this early and of all people to send into their bedroom to wake her up, he was just playing with her at this point. Mad was an understatement. As she went to grab her phone off the charger and head downstairs Gemma walked into the room.

"Good morning, Dear. I hope Skia didn't do anything to upset you too bad, I think Gajeel's intention was more to deter him away from you than to upset you, but he knows he's in trouble!" She offered Levy the cup of coffee and sat down on the bed. "Join me, let's girl talk."

Levy took coffee and joined her on the bed. "I'll let him be fearful for a little while, but it's hard to stay mad at him, he can make me laugh too easily." Levy smiled as she took a drink and knew Gajeel had to have made the coffee, she could taste the white chocolate he always added for her and she doubted he would have passed that little secret onto someone else as small as it may be.

Gemma smiled back at her. "Thank you." Levy looked up at the woman with a confused look on her face but Gemma didn't allow to say anything else before she spoke again. "Gajeel finally seems to be facing forward and with both feet on the ground, I haven't seen him like this in a long time. He use to be a horrible person, not someone I was proud to call my son. Are you aware of his past?" She looked down at Levy as she turned to focus on the floor moving her coffee cup to her lap.

"Some, I think. He told me he had been in a gang and got in quite a bit of trouble and even did a little jail time. He never went into too many details but he told me he would tell me anything I wanted to know, so I let just let him tell me enough." She took another sip and continued, "Gajeel told me he wasn't a good person, but to me he's the best person. His past is his past, we all have one, and whereas my past might not be as intense and long winded as his I still have one and if we let our pasts overshadow the person we are today then we'd get nowhere. I trust him when he says he's not like that anymore, Laxus' grandfather gave him a second chance and allowed him to work at the gym and he really enjoys his job so that helped him a lot."

"The gym was definitely a saving grace, it got him turned in the right direction but he would still turn around occasionally. I am not sure when you came into his life but these past two months the man my son has been is someone I can be proud of. His relationship with Skiadrum and myself has never been that good, so I can't say much but I can say he has changed. Keep him in line and I hope you can stay patient with him, he can have a temper but I guess you don't back down either huh?" She chuckled to herself.

"Did he, umm tell you how we met by chance?" Levy said reluctantly with a mild blush spread across her cheeks.

"No, he said you two had quite a rough start at first but that was all he said." Gemma's smile was warm and Levy returned the smile as she finished off her cup of coffee.

"A rough start huh? Yeah." Her smile grew as she stood up from the bed and turned to face Gemma. "Thanks for talking with me, how's about we head downstairs and let him think he's in for a world of hurt?" She winked with a laugh.

"The both of them!" Gemma stood up and the two women hugged as they laughed and then headed for the living room downstairs.


	10. Chapter 10

**Hello! Hope you enjoy the update, I am going to go focus on Heart now, I have way too many ideas rolling around in my head and have got to get them down before I go insane, but don't worry, I'm not giving this up! Oh, bit of lemon warning coming up.**

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A few hours later Levy and Gajeel had said their goodbyes and retreated back to Gajeel's room. Levy was laying on her belly engulfed in one of her many books; she had managed to somehow overtake one of the bookshelves and fill it in a short amount of time, Gajeel was still trying to figure out when that had happened. Gajeel had been watching her for a quite a while and he realized he rather enjoyed watching her range of emotions as she got further into her book; her various smiles, her wide eyes full of shock, her frown; that one made him want to chuck the book out the window, how dare something make her sad. But her smile, if that damned book made her smile one more time he was going to waltz right over there and give her something to really smile about. And there it was; she was in for it.

Levy didn't seem to notice the dip in the bed as the large, raven haired man crept up to her, hovering over top of her much smaller body. Gajeel reached for the bookmark on her left side and ever so gently yet rather quickly snatched the book from her hands, slipped in the bookmark and tossed it onto the nightstand.

"Gajeel!" She squealed as he in one swift motion flipped her over so she was facing up at the man sporting a rather proud smirk.

"What had you smilin' so much eh Shorty?" He nuzzled at her neck, planting soft kisses as he went.

She giggled beneath him and moved her hands under his shirt to run her fingers up and down his back. "I was at a very good point in my book and you… mhhm... interrupted me."

"Books can't do what I'm 'bout to do to ya Shrimp." He continues trailing kisses down her neck and along her collarbone, thank goodness for that loose, low hanging neckline.

Levy took the initiate to remove the cloth barrier from herself and made short work of getting his shirt off as well while he unhooked and slipped off her bra. After they were both exposed to each other and once she had her fill of ogling his bare chest for the time being being she broke the distance and smashed her mouth to his.

As their tongues battled for dominance Levy stroked her fingers down his chiseled chest as she was rewarded with a deep, throaty growl from her boyfriend. Gajeel moved one hand behind her to pull her closer to him while the other played with her perky nipples, switching from one to the other.

When their lips broke free from each other Gajeel moved himself down her body, touching and caressing all of her exposed skin. He breathed hot breaths against her breasts and she arched her back up effectively lifting her breast right into his more than ready mouth.

Gajeel savored her small mound, nipping, biting and sucking at her sensitive peak. He knew Levy was self conscious but she had broke down those walls; for him. He had had several women before her and he couldn't remember ever being as satisfied as she left him; and yet he still wanted more of her..

He trailed his hand down her belly and past the elastic band of her gym shorts and into the confines of her cotton panties, Levy writhed beneath him in anticipation of his wandering digits within her folds. Gajeel loved seeing her like this; hot, bothered, lustful, defenseless, and the only cure for her assortment of ailments was the pierced man himself.

He captured her lips in the same moment he inserted two fingers into her warm sex, her moan escaped down his throat as she gripped the bed sheets on either side of her.

"You want Rogue to hear you? Not that I mind gihihi" Gajeel continued his thrusting in and out of her tight core.

"I. Can't. Help it. MHMMM!" Levy panted with each word as she arched into him.

"Go ahead and let it out. Let him know what he so missed out on from his poor performance." He let a very satisfied grin creep across his face.

"You're an asshole. Mmm! Ahhh! Finish. Me. Off. Gajeel!" Levy tried to glare up at him but when his thumb played at her sensitive clit she was seeing stars.

Gajeel could hear someone loudly thumping up the steps, assuming it was Rogue, and that only ignited his fire more but what he wasn't prepared for was the door to swing wide open and for his bright pink haired friend to come strutting in.

"Hiya!" Natsu loudly exclaimed as he happened upon the intimate couple.

"Oh my God!" Levy screamed and made quick work at covering her upper half and scrunching herself into a ball.

Gajeel was pissed; if looks could kill Natsu would have been dead and long gone. He lifted himself off of Levy and shifted his body to be in front of her, he peeked over his shoulder as he watched her gather the sheets and cover her entire body underneath it.

"Salamander, ya got ten seconds to tell me why I should not kill you right now."

"I came to pick up Happy! Rogue said you guys were busy but I just came to say hi and to tell you that she agreed to go with me!" Natsu seemed to bounce. He had clearly interrupted them on purpose.

"None of that was reason enough for me to let ya live." He was still seething.

"Hi Levy! Luce headed for home, she said she'll see you there!" Natsu leaned around Gajeel to talk to the Levy blanket tent behind him.

"...Hello Natsu." Gajeel could see her shift under the blanket.

"Anyway, I'm outta here!" Natsu turned to leave and Gajeel followed him to the bedroom door. "By the way Gajeel," Natsu turned around to look back at the fuming man "goodluck!" He gave him a wink and turned back around.

"Get the fuck out!" Gajeel slammed the door shut

He turned back around and looked towards bed where his girlfriend was still a makeshift blanket tent.

"...close" The tent spoke.

"Eh? What's that, Shrimp?" He stood in front of the bed and reached for the blanket but was surprised when she suddenly threw the blankets off and glared at him with fury oozing from her hazel eyes.

"I was so close! Now it's gone!" He could almost see the steam pouring off of her and the tears welling up in her eyes and when he realized she was still topless he couldn't help but stare.

When Levy realized he was lost in his own world staring at her bare chest she grabbed the blankets back to her and slouched back down onto the bed. "Gajeel Redfox!"

"Can't help it, Shorty, don't blame me for ya being so damn sexy!" Gajeel grabbed her and pulled her into his arms as he placed a quick kiss to her lips.

She pouted and kissed him back, against her own desires she released herself from his arms, found her bra and shirt and slipped them back on. "I guess I should get back. Lucy will be waiting." She looked sad as Gajeel watched her pack up her small duffle bag from his sitting position on the bed. "I really enjoyed being with you for the week, I'm a little sad to leave to be honest."

"Move in with me."

Levy stopped and looked back at him, shock and bewilderment spread across her face. "Gajeel? What, where did that come from?"

Gajeel stood up and walked towards her, taking her hands into his. "Move in with me. Here. I mean Rogue lives here too, so you'll have to deal with his pain in the ass, but, Levy, stay here. With me."

She looked away from his eyes and glanced about the room trying to gather her thoughts before looking back up at him. "I can't just leave Lucy like that, we split the rent and…" Her head was full of past memories, the last man she had lived with carved a hole in her heart and she was finally able to mend that spot, but now she realized she had merely stuck a bandaid on it and called it a day; she was scared, but even more thoughts crept into her head and she was puzzled beyond belief.

He cut her off, "Go talk it over with blondie. I bet she'll be more understanding than ya think." He smiled down at her and he could see she was still processing everything. "Ya aint gotta answer me now. Just know I'd love to have ya here, I'd love to wake up to your mean ass every mornin!" He flashed her a big toothy grin.

"You jerk!" Levy laughed and playfully punched him in the arm. She finished gathering her things and walked back over to him, allowing him to wrap his arms around her waist she stood on her tippy toes and kissed his cheek. "Drive me back?"

…

It had been a few hours since Gajeel had dropped Levy off at the apartment she shared with her blonde best friend. The two girls had spent most of that time catching up sharing stories from their past week. Lucy had found it especially funny that Levy had been caught in lingerie by Gajeel's parents, and the fact his stepfather had to face the wrath of early morning Levy was icing on the cake.

Lucy had spoke about her week, it had been spent mostly on the beach and in the hotel room. Levy was able to get her digs in when Lucy told her they had managed to break the the bed and that a noise complaint had come through on them from numerous rooms.

The room had recently taken on a more serious feel and Levy could see that her best friend had something on her mind. "Lu-Chan, what's wrong?"

Lucy looked up at her blue hair haired friend from her spot on the couch. "Natsu got offered a job, in Crocus."

"That's wonderful for him!" Reality hit her as she noticed Lucy still had a sad look on her face as she looked back down at the floor. "Oh but Lucy, I'm sorry he'll be so far." She reached out to hold Lucy's hand.

Lucy took a deep breath and looked up at Levy. "He asked me to go with him." She paused for a moment and could see the comprehension in Levy's eyes. "Levy, I said yes. I told him I'd go with him, I'm going to transfer to Fiore University and finish school there."

Lucy had closed her eyes in fear of seeing her dearest best friend crushed at her revelation, what she wasn't prepared for was the hug she was pulled into as Levy giggled. "You are crazy Lu-Chan! I'm so happy for you!"

Lucy opened her eyes and blinked back tears. "You're not mad or upset with me?"

"No! Never! Of course not! I'm so happy for you! This is an amazing opportunity for the both of you and what kind of friend would I be if I were to hold you back from it?" Levy released her friend and took both of her hands in her own. "Did Gajeel know? He asked me to move in with him today and told me to talk to you because I was worried about you having all the rent. He knew didn't he?"

Lucy nodded her head. "Natsu called him yesterday morning. Did you tell him yes?"

Levy shook her head. "No, I was too worried about leaving you with the rent and I never gave him a full answer. I guess I understand now why he didn't seem too concerned with my lack of an answer. When do you leave?"

"Natsu leaves Tuesday, I have to make sure I get my transcripts sent over to Fiore University so probably Thursday or Friday? Natsu is taking most of my stuff with him and the rest I'll take with me. We went and found a nice apartment close to both the university and his new job while we were gone this week."

"That's so exciting! I'm really happy for you, for the both of you!" Levy smiled at Lucy, she was truly happy for her, but now she really had to think about Gajeel's offer.

The two girls continued their talks long into the night. They had promised to keep in touch and visit as often as they could, neither of them had families to return to for the holidays so they decided they would get together for all of them. After many tears had been shed, both happy and sad the two girls decided to try and get some sleep in Lucy's queen size bed.

"Levy?" Lucy called to her friend barely above a whisper in case she were already asleep.

She wasn't though; she was still thinking about Gajeel. "Yeah?"

"What are you going to say to Gajeel?" She could feel the shift in the bed from Levy's side. Lucy had to be sure her friend was going to be taken care of now that she was going to be gone.

Levy still wasn't sure to be honest. She wouldn't be able to afford staying here on her own and she wasn't against living by herself but her week spent with Gajeel had been amazing. His past had never bothered before but if she were to say that at this moment she'd be lying. She couldn't help but dwell on his past.

Lucy could see the inner battle hiding in Levy's eyes and she rolled over onto her side to face the bluenette. "Levy, he's not your ex, I know you're thinking it."

"I know Lucy, but that's not what I'm most concerned about. He's got one hell of a past record, I'm not sure I'm really ready to take this big of a step yet." Levy sighed.

Lucy lifted herself up on her elbow. "I know a bit, Natsu mentioned a few things and you've told me some stuff, but I doubt that's who he is today. Look, if he ends up screwing up just call me, I'll be here in a flash, we'll castrate him together and then you can come to Crocus with me!"

Levy rolled over to look at Lucy and laughed. "I can always count on you. You don't think it's moving too fast? I mean you and Natsu are only now moving in together and you've been together forever it seems!"

"He's been asking me forever! I never really wanted to until now, he practically lived at Gajeels and Rogue's anyway. So, whatcha gonna do?" Lucy could see the smile spread across Levy's face and she smiled back satisfied with the silent answer. "Three years tops." She rolled over away from Levy and giggled.

"Huh? Three years?" Levy sat up and leaned over Lucy.

"You'll be married." Lucy didn't have to look at Levy to know she was sporting a very flustered face and bright red blush. After a playful punch from her small best friend and a few incoherent words she laughed and said goodnight.

So she was really going to do this? She was going to move in with Gajeel. Levy knew she couldn't live with Lucy forever, but she never realized it would end this soon. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, playing out her thoughts. He made her happy, incredibly happy, if she was willing to cast aside his past then she should be willing to cast aside her own and not chastise him for something he didn't do; he's not the one who cheated on her, he's not the one who was bringing women back to their home and into the bed they shared together and he definitely wasn't the one who tried to say it had been all her fault because she wasn't good enough. Gajeel had never made her feel like she wasn't good enough; she was going to do this. She was going to move in with Gajeel.

* * *

 **Let me know what you think! The next few chapters are going to really dive into Gajeel's past and the man who gave Levy the phone number is going to be back soon...did anyone figure out who he was? No one said anything about him! Anyway, until next time!**


	11. Chapter 11

**I have been suffering terribly from writer's block and I feel this chapter really took the brunt of that, so I apologize. I'm currently looking for a BETA so if you are interested, please PM me. The BETA will be more for "Heart" and maybe occasionally this story. Anyway, here's chapter 11!**

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It was still early and Levy was asleep, her first class wasn't for another three hours so Gajeel decided to go into work early and work off some frustration with Laxus. The gym was quiet with the University back in session and for the fact it was 6 in the morning.

"So you're taking the big step eh?" Laxus was finishing up at the incline trainer waiting for Gajeel to finish his reps at the chest press.

"I aint getting married! She's just movin' in with me," he grunted with each rep.

"That's a pretty big step, especially for you. No more secrets," Laxus slowed the speed on the incline trainer.

"The hell you talkin' bout man? Not like I'm keepin' anything from her now!" Gajeel added more weight and continued working out.

"Oh? So she knows about Totomaru stalking you that day and his intentions when he gave her the phone number?" Laxus heard the slam of the weights hitting their resting positions followed by a grunt from the pierced man, "That's what I thought," he shut off the incline machine and took a drag from his water bottle as he went to sit at the ab bench across from Gajeel. "What are you planning on doing about that, by the way?"

"You know I have to. I still owe 'em for helping out my old man. Even though the bastard went and fucked up again and landed himself in jail, I still have my debt to those assholes," Gajeel grabbed for his own water bottle and took a long drink.

"Have they got back with you yet?"

"Nah, I called the assholes but they said they would be in touch. Haven't heard anything since then," Gajeel gave a heavy sigh and put his head in his hands.

Three years ago his father had managed to get himself into some rather deep trouble involving the transportation of various drugs and was looking at facing prison time. Gajeel had finally cleared his name with the gang, Phantom Lord, but he went back to ask for help with his father, he couldn't let him go to prison. He knew he could have sought help from other, more reputable sources but in a moment of weakness he broke and went back to the dark corner of the world he was familiar with; they kept their word and without the sharing of details kept his father out of prison. Though as a big "thank you" the man screwed up again a year later and wound up in jail. Now Gajeel had a useless debt hanging above his head and that was debt was finally being called upon for repayment.

"Don't screw things up Gajeel, get that shit taken care of and focus on her," Laxus spoke sharply as he stared intensely at Gajeel.

"Ya don't think I know that?" Gajeel got up from the chest press and turned to walk away.

Laxus stood, he wasn't done yet, "Gajeel, don't make all this be in vain. I know you have a debt to pay, I get it, but don't fuck things up. Don't hurt her, she's been hurt enough as it is, be honest with her, she deserves that much."

"Weren't you one of my damn cheerleaders in the beginning? You think I want to do this? I have to! If I don't I don't know what kinda shit will down!

"I still am! I can see she makes you happy, are you making her happy?" Laxus was in his face now and grabbed the fabric of Gajeel's shirt pulling him towards himself to force Gajeel to look at him straight on, "I understand you have to do this, but just remember you had at the time and still have other options to help you in the future. Don't go back to them, don't drag her into this."

Gajeel grunted while pulling free from Laxus' grip and walked out of the weight room.

* * *

Levy gathered up her supplies and walked out of the lecture hall, it was her last class of the day and she was excited to get home and continue packing up her belongings. She had postponed her private tutoring sessions for two weeks in order to focus on getting back in the swing of her last semester before graduation and now to also get herself moved in with Gajeel.

Opening up the door she was greeting with the strong smell and sight of cardboard boxes, they were everywhere. Most of them belonging to Lucy. "Lu-chan?" Levy walked around and finally spotted the blonde, "Hiya Lu-" She instantly hushed herself and put her hands to her mouth after whispering an apology upon seeing Lucy on the phone.

"Yes, I'll send over all the details. The truck will be here at 6 right? Thank you, bye!" Lucy hung her phone up and slipped it into her back pocket, "Levy! Hey, sorry I was talking to the moving company. They're coming to pick my stuff up at 6."

"Is Natsu coming down to take you back with him?" Levy plopped down on the couch and opened up her laptop, "I'm pretty sure all the kitchen stuff is packed up since you're taking it with you, how's pizza sound?"

"Pizza sounds great," Levy could hear Lucy taping up another box, "Natsu can't come all the way here so I'm just gonna leave before noon."

"That's a long drive Lu, you gonna be okay?" Levy was clicking through the options on the pizza website, "cheese and pepperoni? Anything else?"

"Pineapple!" Lucy yelled from the kitchen, "yeah I'll be okay, I plan on listening to some audio books!" Taping up the last of her boxes she set the packing tape on the counter and walked over to join Levy on the couch.

The majority of the contents from the two girl's home were going with Lucy, Natsu didn't have a lot of homewares and what he did have was old, broken or just not up to par with Lucy's standards, so when he moved he got rid of a lot of his stuff. Levy knew Gajeel had a lot of quality wares at his house he shared with Rogue so she didn't need to take a lot with her except for her own personal items and another bookshelf; or three.

Levy hadn't had much time pack the few things she needed to and while she wasn't moving until Wednesday she knew she should stop procrastinating. She didn't have classes tomorrow and sadly Gajeel was booked solid for the day so she decided she would call the boys and have them come help her. It had been awhile since her, Jet and Droy had been able to hang out and while she felt bad for calling them on the pretense of using them to help her move she knew they wouldn't say no.

"Lu-chan," Levy rested her head on Lucy's shoulder, "you promise to keep in touch righ?"

"Of course Levy! Quit being a worry wart!" Lucy hugged the blue haired girl, assuring her they would always be together even if they were apart.

As the girls wiped away more tears a knock sounded at the door, "That must be the pizza! " Lucy jumped from the couch grabbed her wallet and hurried to the door.

Levy had bought paper plates earlier in the day to keep them from having to use the dishes so she went to grab them as Lucy brought the pizza into the kitchen. They had given their kitchen table and chairs to Mira's younger sister for her first apartment so the two girls sat on the floor and enjoyed their pizza while they happily talked about old times and waited for the moving company.

* * *

Gajeel walked out of the gym, he was ready to get home, take a shower and see if Levy and Lucy needed any help with packing. He felt bad they were doing most of it themselves with Natsu already being in Crocus getting his new job sorted out and him being booked solid for the next week with clients. His thoughts were soon interrupted when he felt his phone vibrating in his pocket, thinking it was Levy he fished his phone out and was stunned to see it was a blocked number,

He swiped the green button and placed it to his ear giving a very unenthusiastic, "Hello?"

The line was quiet for a moment until someone finally spoke, "Gajeel. It's been a while."

"Jose," it didn't take him long to recognize the voice on the other end of the line.

Jose; leader of Phantom would have been a fool to think he could avoid being called upon by him directly. Back when he was in active with the gang he was one of the best, he would do any job required of him without question. Jose had left him alone when Gajeel had left to clean up his act, they had enough dirt on each other they could both end up in prison with the keys thrown away and if the right-or rather wrong- people were told certain things, they knew they could also wind up dead, so they agreed to keep their mouth's shut and leave each other be. Jose had told him to come back if he ever changed his mind and those few years ago when Gajeel did just that, he had been saving his debt for one hell of a job.

"I'll make this short, I'm sure you're in a hurry to get back to that little girlfriend of your's." Gajeel recoiled at the mention of Levy, Totomaru must have mentioned her to him. He wasn't thrilled to know they knew about her and he'd be damned if they tried to use her in any form. "I would like to speak with you personally, Thursday 9 o'clock at the old warehouse on the far side of town."

"I remember the place. I'll be there." Without another word the call disconnected. He placed the phone back in his pocket and a growl escaped from his throat.

 _I will not put Levy in danger, I'll get this shit over with and that will be it. Over and done with, Laxus is daft to think she'll get drug into this. I won't hurt her._

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 **Hope you liked it! Please let me know what you think! I could really use some solid reviews after the week I've been having, so let me have them!**


	12. Chapter 12

**Hello! So first off, a massive thank you to all those who have reviewed! It means A LOT to me! I love reading your thoughts, reactions, hates, likes, rants, you name it. I love and appreciate all of it. I try to personally thank all of you via PM (except for "guest" it won't let me message ya'll) but if I have missed a personal thank you, I greatly apologize! Anyway, here's chapter 12!**

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"That should be the last of it Levs," Jet closed the tailgate of the truck and walked back over the to the sidewalk, "between what's in your car and the back of Droy's truck I think we got it all!"

"Thanks again for helping me, it really means a lot!" Levy secured some loose boxes in the trunk of Gajeel's car and shut the door.

She had borrowed his car today in order to move a few things but when her childhood friends Jet and Droy stopped by she made use of Droy's much larger truck to finish up the last of her moving boxes. Lucy had already left and the place just felt lonely and much too big so she jumped at the chance to move a day earlier. Her plan was to surprise Gajeel before he got home tonight, hopefully he wouldn't be too upset he didn't get the chance to help.

"You guys follow me, it's not that far from here," the boys nodded their heads and got in the truck as Levy backed the car out of the parking spot and drove off down the street.

About fifteen minutes later she pulled into the driveway of the condo she now shared with Gajeel and his brother. Rogue's car was in the garage so Droy backed his truck in behind where Levy had parked.

"So do we get to meet this guy," Jet questioned as he grabbed a box and followed Levy inside the house.

"He's busy all day today which is why I wasn't suppose to actually move until tomorrow, so I might have to have a dinner and invite you guys over sometime! I promise you'll get to meet him!"

Levy motioned for Jet to follow her up the stairs with the box he was carrying, she opened the door to her now bedroom and set her own moving box on the floor, "That box you're carrying actually goes in the bathroom across the hall," she pointed to a door across from another room.

"What's going on out here?" Rogue stuck his head out from his room and came face to face with Jet, "Whoa, who the hell are you?" He watched as Levy walked past him and went downstairs.

Rogue walked out of his room following the bluenette, "I thought you weren't moving in until tomorrow. You should have called I would have helped!"

Jet had a confused expression spread across his face as he watched Rogue grab a granola bar and bite off a large chunk, "I thought you said he was busy today Levs?"

Levy walked back by with another box, Droy following behind her carrying two in his arms, "He is busy! That's not my boyfriend, Jet! That's Rogue his brother, Rogue that is Jet and the man that just went up the stairs is Droy, they're old friends of mine!" He could hear her giggles as she turned and went upstairs, he looked back at Rogue who just shrugged with a smirk on his face.

"If you're not her boyfriend then who is her boyfriend?" He wasn't exactly asking Rogue and hadn't even realized he said his thoughts out loud until he heard a grunt from behind him and noticed Rogue was pointing.

"I'm her boyfriend, who are you?" A deep voice spoke.

Jet turned around slowly and was surprised to see a massive man standing in front of him. He had his long hair pulled back and his face was covered in piercings, even his arms had studs on them!

Noticing the awkward tension in the room Rogue wrapped an arm around Jet's shoulders and smiled, "This here is Jeb! He's an old friend of Levy's!"

"Um, it's Jet," he deadpanned, "You must be Gajeel?" He looked back at the larger man.

"Gajeel!" Levy came running down the steps to greet her boyfriend, "I thought you were booked today! I was going to surprise you!" She ran over to give him a hug.

"Hey Shrimp, the AC broke at the gym so they closed for today and tomorrow in order to get it fixed," hugging her back and giving her a chaste kiss on the forehead.

"We should do lunch tomorrow! I don't have class until 4! Oh, this is Jet, Rogue let him go," she pushed Rogue's arm off Jet's shoulder and shooed him out the door to grab another box, "and the guy behind me is Droy. They're childhood friends of mine. Guys this is my boyfriend, Gajeel! Anyway, they were in the area and decided to stop by and say hi and I figured I could have them help me move the last bit of my stuff and surprise you!"

Gajeel looked up from admiring Levy's smiling face to meet eyes with the two men who were helping his little bookworm in his stead, "Nice to meet ya. Thanks for helpin' her," he turned around to see Rogue carrying in two boxes and set them on the floor, "How much is left?"

"The truck is nearly empty, haven't looked in your car yet," Rogue looked over to Levy who was in the kitchen taking various things out of the fridge.

"Gajeel's car is pretty full, why don't you guys finish bringing everything in and I'll make dinner for everyone!"

A few hours later everything had been unloaded and Gajeel had managed to put a few things away in their bedroom while Jet and Droy put away her book collection. Levy was thankful they were getting along for the most part, it wasn't hard to notice that they didn't particularly care for one another but she was glad they were willing to try for her. Droy had told her he was shocked to see her with someone like Gajeel, it was the complete opposite of what she had always envisioned for herself, but Levy had just sighed and said that the last guy that was her type had screwed her over pretty badly, so she threw that out the window.

Dinner was almost finished and Levy was grabbing plates from the cabinet as Gajeel came around behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist. Jet watched them from the table as she laughed and leaned into him as he snuggled into the crook of her neck and buried his face in her hair. They shared a few innocent kisses and his gut twisted; Droy noticed.

"She's happy," Droy whispered to his friend.

"I don't like him," Jet replied back quietly.

"She's not looking for your approval," The two men heads snapped to what was once the empty chair across from, "She's perfect for him and he needs her, don't screw it up. If your approvals were really needed you would have met him a long time ago, dontcha think?" Rogue's lips turned upward in a smirk as he leaned is arm over the back of the chair and yelled back at the couple, "Yo! Knock it off, the audience does not approve!"

Levy's face turned bright red as she shuffled out of Gajeel's arms to bring over the plates she had retrieved from the cabinet. Gajeel just glared and grabbed the dish Levy had prepared for dinner.

"Shut yer mouth Rogue, I'll give ya somethin' worthy of an audience," Gajeel gave his trademark laugh and winked at his younger brother.

"Gajeel!" Levy was turning more red by the minute, how could they be doing this in front of Jet and Droy?

"Won't be nothin' I've not seen before. Or heard," Rogue countered with his own laugh.

"Rogue!" Levy was hiding her head in her hands and praying to Mavis that Jet and Droy wouldn't ask questions, "Will you two stop it!"

Droy couldn't help but laugh but Jet was none the pleased with the current situation, "Levy, we're happy for you," Levy's eyes lifted to Droy's face and she couldn't help but smile at her long time friend, "we were initially worried about Lucy leaving but it'll be okay, you seem to have a very good family here," Droy casually elbowed Jet, "we know our approvals don't matter, but we are happy to see you doing so well and that we can worry less when we head back home." Droy smiled happily at the bluenette and she beamed back at him.

"I'll take good care of her," Gajeel didn't meet their eyes, he just stared at Levy as he made his statement.

...

Levy stepped out of the shower after Gajeel as he wrapped a towel around her body and kissed the corner of her mouth, "You are incorrigible," she laughed against his warm lips as he moved to captured them with his own.

"I'm just happy you're finally here," he pulled her closer to him, ready for another round after their long shower session when the sound of his phone ringing interrupted him, "hold that thought."

Levy listened to him answer the phone as she finished drying off and walked into the bedroom. Gajeel had already managed to put on a pair of lounge pants and a black tank top as he mouthed a 'be right back' to her and stepped out of the room.

Any other night she would have been sorely disappointed but tonight she was just flat out tired from moving and putting everything away after up until a short while ago. She slipped into a pair of underwear, grabbed one of Gajeel's shirts and crawled in the large bed. Gajeel had managed to leave the door open a crack allowing Pantherlily to sneak in and he snuggled into Levy's arms.

"You're so cuddly, Lily. You'll keep me warm while our mean Gajeel is on the phone won't you?" He purred at her as she kissed his fur and hugged him closer.

 _..._

 _"I'll be sending over some details for a simple job, this will need to be finished prior to our meeting on Thursday."_

"It had better be simple, yer basically givin' me a day to do it," Gajeel spat back to the person on the other end of the phone.

 _"See you Thursday, Gajeel."_

The line went quiet and the call ended, Gajeel gave a loud sigh and looked down when a text came through detailing the job request.

 **Meet with T downtown at 1pm. He will give you the specifics.**

"Shit," Gajeel wiped a hand down his face as he was reminded of his lunch date with his girlfriend tomorrow, he hated having to lie to her but he wanted to get this done and over with without dragging her into it. He would have to think of a good excuse and see if one of the girls was available to fill his place.

He trudged back up the stairs and towards his bedroom, opening the door he noticed the head of blue hair peeking out from the covers and the furry black cat that was curled up in her arms. He smiled as he quietly shut his door and removed his shirt. He walked over to the bed and pulled back the covers as he gently got in between the sheets. Rolling over to his side he attempted to pull Levy closer but was stopped by a hiss coming from his cat.

"Oi! You gotta share! She ain't all yers!" Pantherlily yawned and cuddled back up in her arms snubbing his pierced owner, "damn cat."


	13. Chapter 13

**Hello everyone! Once again major thank you to those who have reviewed, please keep them coming! I love you guys! Here is chapter 13!**

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The sun was starting to peak through the windows and before long the warm, bright morning light was dancing across Gajeel's face , squinting he rolled over to check the time on the alarm clock sitting on the bedside table; 9:00am. Running a hand down his face his forced himself to wake up.

He felt the bed shift beside him and his eyes moved to settle on the small figure nuzzled against his side sleeping soundly. Rolling over into his side he lifted his hand to brush away a few loose strands covering her face. A sleep moan escaped from between her lips before she opened a pair of warm, tired hazel eyes and met his gaze.

"Good morning beautiful," he spoke softly.

She cuddled herself in closer to his body burying her face into his chest as her arm snaked around his torso, "Mmmm, ten more minutes" she mumbled, her warm breath tickling him.

"It's after nine little lady, I'm in the clear to wake you up," he laughed as he kissed the top of her head, inhaling the lavender scent radiating from her hair.

Gajeel wound his arms around his girlfriend and pulled her closer as he felt her breathing slow and knew she had fallen back asleep. Slipping a hand under her-rather his-shirt he lazily drew patterns on her back, he could hear the faint sound of satisfied mewls in her slumbering state.

His mind settled on the job he was to be assigned today and he silently prayed it was something easy and straightforward. He wanted to put all of this behind him. His old jobs within the gang had been fairly straightforward and having been Jose's personal body guard he rarely ever had to get his hands dirty with the smalltime stuff. He had worked his way up the chains and secured a life of luxury amongst the gang, but when one of the jobs had got a little too close to home he had to admit he had gotten spooked. He wanted a quiet exit and Jose had let him go, reluctantly. Gajeel guessed the man would have known he'd come back, and dammit he had done just that.

Gajeel couldn't remember when he had fallen back asleep but he was soon awakened by a small weight straddling his lap and warm lips against his neck. He continued to feign sleep as he felt her fingers explore his bare chest and her lips move across his neck, up his jaw and settle on his lips. Gajeel couldn't help but move his hands up her smooth back and smile against her lips. Opening his eyes he was greeted with shimmering hazel orbs and the warmest smile he had ever seen.

"Good morning, Gajeel," her voice was like a song.

Leaning up he kissed her lips in reply and murmured a good morning back to her. In one swift motion he flipped their positions and placed her underneath him. Her small hands touched the sides of his face as she traced his piercings with delicate fingers.

"How's about we skip our lunch date today and just stay in bed until I have to go to class? Sound like a plan?" Levy whispered as she kissed across his jaw and wrapped her arms around his neck.

Gajeel was about to give into her when his thoughts caught up with him, "Shit."

"What's up?" Levy halted her kisses and looked up at him.

He didn't want to lie, he really didn't but he couldn't get her involved in this. It was his mistake, he would right his wrong and she'd be none the wiser and wouldn't get hurt. "I just remembered I made an appointment with a client at the other location since ours is closed right now. I'm sorry, Shrimp."

Levy smiled back at him, "That's okay! No need to apologize silly. Why don't I make us something to eat real quick and you pick me up tonight after class and we do dinner?"

"Sounds good," he probably would felt better if she had shown the least bit of sadness.

She kissed his nose, rolled out from under him and jumped out of the bed. She pulled on a pair of pajama pants and put her hair up in a high pony tail. Skipping back over to plant one more kiss to his lips she grabbed Lily from the foot of the bed and skipped down the hallway to the stairs.

Gajeel felt sick to his stomach for lying to her, a knot had formed and his body ached. He shook his head and pulled at the sides of his hair cursing himself. He sure as hell didn't deserve Levy, she had the utmost trust in him and here was betraying her not twenty-four hours after she had moved in with him. His gut was telling him to be honest with her, she'd understand, but another part of him was telling him to keep her out of it. Then there was an even smaller part that was telling him to pack up their stuff, take her and run. He'd tell her the details later and they'd just hide out for a while, but she was only a few months away from graduating and he couldn't do that to her, she'd worked so hard. So with that in mind, he decided to keep her in the dark as much as he could while keeping her safe. Gajeel pulled on a pair of jeans and found a simple black shirt laying across his desk chair. Slipping it over his head he heard her shout up from downstairs that lunch was ready.

...

Gajeel was standing against the wall by the bar in a tavern downtown, he was finishing off his second beer and Totomaru was nearly thirty minutes late. The tavern was shady, it wasn't a placec his normal group frequented so he wasn't too concerned with being spotted. Slamming his glass down on the bar he was about to order a third drink when the bell attached to the door chimed.

Totomaru came casually strutted in glancing about the room until his eyes settled on the large man at the bar, "Ah, Gajeel. Long time no see old friend."

"Yer late," Gajeel spat.

"Don't get an attitude, you're low man on the totem pole now. What's it feel like to have to answer to me?" Totomaru teased.

"Let's get this shit over with."

Totomaru waved his hand signaling Gajeel to follow him as they walked through a door in the back of the bar. As they strode down the back hallway Totomaru opened a door and ushered Gajeel inside before closing and locking it behind him. Pulling a wad of papers out of his pocket he tossed them onto a table in the middle of the room and pulled out a chair, sitting on it backwards he rested his arms on it's back and pointed at the papers.

"Those are shipment papers for products to be delivered to a warehouse on the outskirts of town," he explained, Gajeel started reading over the papers before Totomaru continued, "The company is a cover up for a drug ring, and they happen to be one of the Boss' big suppliers for his distributions."

"But this warehouse isn't associated with the Boss," he flipped through a couple more pages, "unless you guys bought another?" He cocked an eyebrow at the man in question.

"Nope. That warehouse belongs to Dullahan Head. The boss has noticed a decrease in the quality amongst his shipments and we were able to intercept those papers, he thinks that most of his stuff is being rerouted to Dullahan Head, and well he wants his share back while also wanting to be the only major supplier in this area."

"His pockets aren't deep enough for his liking, eh?" Gajeel tossed the papers back onto the table and leaned against the wall.

"Ya blame him? He's a proud man after all. Anyway, our job today is to get an updated timeline of any new shipments coming in."

Gajeel knew where this was headed and his hopes had been crushed, though he couldn't be surprised. This was not an in and out kind of job, if he were lucky this whole thing would be done in a few months. Which at the rate he was going, he was not a lucky man. Jose was not one to welcome someone onto his turf, especially if they were messing with the deepness of his pockets. The drug industry was massive and Jose was well known within it and if Dullahan Head was trying to get their hand in the pot this was not going to end pretty.

Giving a long sigh he continued thinking of the all possibilities where this job could go and the majority of them did not end well. Levy moving in with him couldn't have come at a worse time, he had a lot of late nights coming up and his stomach churned with the thought of the lies continuing. He was leaning more towards coming clean and telling her the truth, but if she knew more than she needed to he was worried they would target her if anything went wrong. They already knew who she was and her relationship with him, she was already on their radar, and he had to do what he could to keep her from being of any interest to them.

"So how do we get these updated timelines?"

"Ah that's easy," Totomaru smiled and flipped the chair around to lean it back against the wall and prop his feet up on the table, "since it's a cover up company, they employ some real simpletons. The employees don't know what they're doing so we're gonna call 'em and have a fax sent here."

"Here?" Gajeel questioned.

"This place is family owned," that's why it seemed so shady Gajeel thought to himself, "You're gonna call them and say you need an updated shipping timeline and give them this number," he pulled a number out of the back pocket of his jeans and placed it on the table.

"And they won't think anything of it?" Gajeel didn't trust this scheme, it was way too easy.

"Like I said, they're simpletons. How do ya think we got those?" He pointed to the papers laying in front of Gajeel.

Totomaru tossed a cell phone to Gajeel and sat back with a grin on his face. Gajeel picked up the fax number laying on the table and opened up the cell phone, there were only a few contacts listed and he highlighted the one with the same name as the company from the papers. The line connected and he paced around the room as he fabricated a story to the woman on the other end of the line and just like Totomaru had said, no questions were asked and a few minutes later he was off the phone and had been promised an updated timeline to be faxed over by the end of the business day.

Totomaru dropped the chair back down to all fours and stood up, grabbing the papers off the table he folded them up and shoved them back in his pocket, he walked over and unlocked the door and opened it before turning back to Gajeel, "I'm done with you for today. Boss will talk with you more tomorrow. I guess he has high hopes for you, he wants to meet with you personally," as Gajeel walked up he slammed the door and glowered at Gajeel, "I don't trust you one bit, you left. Why the hell are you back in the first place?"

"He didn't tell you? Weren't you the one sent to give me a message?" Gajeel was confused, did he really not know the reason he was on this job in the first place?

"He didn't tell me shit," Totomaru spat back, Gajeel smirked at the seething man.

Him being back at the bottom of the totem pole had been a ruse that Totomaru had just so graciously gave away. This gave Gajeel a sense of hope that he wouldn't have to get his hands too dirty, but also worried him to the core that there was a much bigger role for him in all this. Pushing him aside, Gajeel gave another smirk and exited the room and then shortly thereafter the bar itself.

Looking down at his watch he realized he still had a few hours before he had to pick Levy up so he sent a text to Laxus saying he was on his way over. He knew Mira would be gone for the day and to keep his sanity he needed to spill the details to someone else in case something terrible happened.

...

Laxus sighed and shook his head. He listened to everything Gajeel had told him and saw how the man was hurting, "Man you really fucked up."

Gajeel gave a dry laugh, "Did I ever. I could kill my old man-"

"Don't go blaming him for what you got yourself into! He made his own mistakes, you didn't need to try and clean up his mess. Look where it go you," Laxus was not going to sugar coat things for his best friend. He knew the man had screwed up and it was his job to remind him of this daily. "Listen, I can't make promises but I'll see what Gramps and I can do from our end to make sure things go easy. I am not getting you out of this don't mistake me but I'll at least try to keep your ass out on any more trouble. But, if push comes to shove and things blow up, count me out."

"I appreciate it, and I get ya. I don't expect you to do anything for me, but I'm thankful.' I made this bed and I gotta lie in it."

"Keep Levy out of that bed," Laxus said it half jokingly, there was too much tension in the room and even if his best friend was a total dumbass he was still his best friend.

Gajeel laughed in his odd way, "I quite enjoy her in the bed she's currently laying in."


	14. Chapter 14

**I realize this story moved very slowly in the beginning but hang on to your pants, it's about to get a lot faster and a lot more intense!**

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"Rogue do you know what time Gajeel will be back?" Levy was finishing up dinner as Rogue slumped down the steps.

"Late. He said he was helping Laxus with something, remember?" Rogue grabbed some plates from the cabinet and set them on the counter near Levy.

"Oh! I forgot about that, well be sure to save him some, don't it eat all!" She slapped his hand as he took a hefty portion of lasagna.

The awkwardness that Levy and Rogue had once shared was long dissipated, instead a friendship had blossomed and when Gajeel wasn't able to be around and help with things Rogue would step up and fill in as much as he could.

Levy finished her dinner and stared up at the clock that hung over the oven, she hadn't realized she was sighing until Rouge spoke up.

"I'll do dishes tonight, why don't you go relax?"

"Really? I did just get a new book," her eyes settled on the Barnes and Noble bag sitting next to her purse on the counter that separated the kitchen from the living room.

"Well go enjoy it, I got this covered!"

Levy thanked him and danced over to where the bag was sitting and pulled out her new and very large book.

Rogue covered the leftovers with foil and placed them inside the fridge. He then got to work on cleaning up the table and filling the sink with soapy water. The smell of lemon dish soap filled the room and Levy settled herself on the couch with her recent purchase.

Hours had come and gone and the blue haired bookworm was nearly halfway into the thickly bound book when Rogue came down the steps and interrupted her reading.

"I'm going to bed Levy, don't stay up too late. I don't wanna get in trouble for leaving you down here when my brother gets home!"

"I won't! I hope he comes home soon though."

She glanced up at the clock and saw it was nearing eleven. She laid the book across her lap and reached for her phone, deciding to call him and make sure he was okay.

...

Gajeel parked his car on a side street around the corner from the warehouse and shut the engine off. He picked up his cell phone and noticed he had two missed calls from Levy, he wiped a hand across his face and shut the phone off before slipping it into his coat pocket. Taking a deep breath he stepped out and sauntered up to the warehouse door. Waiting outside were three men, two of them enjoying their cigarettes as the third talked on a cell phone which he promptly closed shut when Gajeel stepped forward.

"Been expecting you. Go on in," one of the men who was smoking said to him.

Gajeel nodded and pushed open the metal doors. The large room inside was fairly dark, illuminated only by high bay lights, half of which were blown out. The room had a sickly sweet smell to it and it made Gajeel's nose twitch. He glanced around the room looking for Jose, he didn't immediately spot him but there was a group gathered in the middle by a table and he meandered his way over.

A tall, slim man looked up from the table and smiled as he met eyes with Gajeel. Moving away from the table he strode over to where Gajeel stood with his arms crossed.

"Gajeel Redfox," the repulsive man sneered, "I'm so happy to see you."

"Can't say the feeling is mutual, Jose."

"Shame. How's your old man?"

Jose circled around Gajeel, sizing him up; it'd been quite some time since Gajeel had left the gang and his old boss didn't look disappointed with the fact Gajeel had even further bulked up since then.

"He's fine," Gajeel said through gritted teen, "enough with the small talk, what's this job about?"

"I heard he wound up in jail. That's a shame and after all you did for him." Jose began walking back over to the large table in the middle of the room, "Yes about this job. We received the papers you so easily got that woman to fax over."

Gajeel grabbed the stack of papers Jose held out for him, skimming through he read the next shipment wasn't scheduled for another month according to the records. The cover company was a candy manufacturer, which would explain the sweet smell emanating around him. Candy, especially the super sweet kind was the preferred method of shipping drugs. The repulsive smell would deter anyone from opening the boxes and messing with the products.

Gajeel lifted his gaze and did another survey of the room, he didn't see Totomaru anywhere and he couldn't help but wonder where he was. After their last encounter he had figured he was the new right hand man, but that might not be the case unless he was out on another job.

"As I'm sure you've read, the next shipment isn't for another month. I have a few of my men keeping tabs on their warehouse as well as their local hangout. Until then I don't have much for you to do, but you'll still need to check in at least twice a week. You'll be infiltrating their warehouse when the shipment drops and fixing this mess. I don't appreciate my business being messed with."

Jose tossed Gajeel a cell phone, catching it he looked it over and then looked back up at his new-old-boss.

"That's yours, keep it handy. Answer when I call. If you don't I will find you, it has GPS. Don't bother tampering with it either because I'll know."

"Someone went and got all fancy didn't they? Whatever, but if I'm at work and I don't answer, yer just gonna have to get over it. I'll call ya back, don't get yer panties in a twist." Gajeel wouldn't let the man have the entire upper hand, he never did in the past and he wasn't about to allow it now.

Jose's eyes slanted at the larger, long haired man and he clicked his tongue.

"Don't get too cocky Redfox," his eyes relaxed and another sneer spread across his face, "how's that girlfriend of yours? She's a cute little thing, not your typical go-to compared to what you favored while you were here.

Gajeel's eyes widened and drew his mouth back in a snarl. "Leave her out of this." His body tensed as he hissed the words through clenched teeth.

Jose chuckled, Gajeel might as well have just offered Levy up right then and there, tossing her down on the table like a losing hand of poker. His weakness was brought into light and Jose knew at that point all he had to do was say jump and Gajeel would ask how high.

..

Levy had long since fallen asleep waiting up for Gajeel to get home. Rogue had come downstairs to get something to drink and spotted the blue haired girl curled up on the couch. He sighed as he quietly walked over to where she was silently sleeping and was starting to draw her up into his arms when the door unlocked and pushed open.

Gajeel shut the door behind him and stepped inside. He flung his coat over the back of the couch beside the door and finally spotted Rogue bending over the couch on the opposite side of the room, as his eyes went lower he saw his brother's arms wrapped around his girlfriend.

"What the fuck are you doing?"

Rogue retracted his arms and stood back up, "She stayed up waiting for you. I was only trying to get her to bed." He shook his head and snarled back, "Wait, why am I defending myself? Where the hell have you been? It's almost 3 in the morning!"

"I don't have to tell you shit," the long haired man spat back, "now get your hands off my girl."

"Oh come off it Gajeel! Been there done that! I'm not gonna do anythin'! I was only helping!"

Gajeel made contact with Rogue's face and Rogue fell back against the couch nearly landing on the small woman. Levy had woke up prior to the punch and after a few moments of gathering her thoughts her eyes shot to Rogue who was now catering a split lip.

"Rogue!" She sat up and placed her hands on either side of his face as she inspected the wound.

"He's fine, Shrimp."

The deep voice came from behind her, she had momentarily forgot he had come home in her sleepy stupor.

"Gajeel? When did you get home?" Her thoughts finally aligned and looking back at Rogue her eyes grew wide as she whirled back to Gajeel. "You split his lip! Gajeel, what the hell?"

Gajeel was fuming. Here he was watching his girlfriend pull his brother into the kitchen and caring for him like it was no big deal he had just had his hands on her as he was standing there being completely ignored. Did she not understand what kind of night he was having? Then it dawned on him, no she didn't. She was in the dark with his now side life and his heart pinged. Deep down he knew Rogue wasn't doing anything, he was merely taking care of the girlfriend he should have been home taking care of. Gajeel was still standing in the same spot when Levy walked back over to him.

"Gajeel, where have you been and," she scrunched her face and placed a hand over her nose, "why do you reek of cigarette smoke and...candy? Look, just go take a shower while I help Rogue. I'll be up in a little bit."

Gajeel huffed and stomped away, his boots echoed loudly as he climbed the steps. He took off his shirt and threw towards the corner of the room as he trudged into the bathroom and turned the shower water on. He stripped off the remainder of his clothes and tossed them into the hamper and stepped in into the stream, allowing the hot water to roll of his body and wash away the stress of the night. His long hair hung in front of his face as he leaned against the wall of the shower.

After he felt he had been in for long enough he turned the water off and stepped out of the shower, put ting on a pair of boxers Gajeel walked out if the bathroom and into the bedroom he shared with Levy. He quickly noticed the small bundle cuddled up under the covers and allowed himself to smile as he looked down at his sleeping girlfriend.

He slid in between the covers and noticed she had her back turned to him, something Gajeel was not use to. They always slept facing each other, her burrowed in his arms and resting against his chest, his heart hurt when he realized this was all his fault.

"Lev, please don't sleep with your back to me. I'm sorry."

He heard the woman sigh as she shifted, turning herself over and positioning herself further up the pillow so she could look into his eyes.

"Gajeel, where were you?" Her voice was soft and sleepy.

Gajeel took a deep breath and let it back out slowly.

"I was with Laxus. By the time we finished it was late and I thought you might already be asleep, so I agreed to go out with him for a little while. I guess the service was bad, I sent you a text but it never went through. I'm sorry."

He could see Levy blinking through the heavy moonlight shining in the window. Her eyes left his for a moment and when they finally returned his gaze she smiled.

"Please don't do that again, at least not without making sure I know you're okay. I tried calling you so many times but it always went to your voicemail."

She reached out and intertwined her fingers with his as she gripped his hand.

"And please apologize to Rogue. He was only being a gentleman. He wouldn't do anything against me, or you for that matter. His comment might not have been appropriate, but neither was your assumption and retaliation."

Gajeel grunted in approval and caressed her cheek with his large calloused hand as she smiled and turned into it. She snuggled closer to him and before she succumbed to sleep she mumbled her own apology about having her back to him. He assured her it was okay and hugged her closer placing a kiss to the top of her head and allowing her scent to invade his senses.

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 **As always, reviews are much appreciated! I can't thank those of you who have reviews enough! THANK YOU!**


	15. Chapter 15

**Just a warning, this chapter does contain lemon! Enjoy! Also, I dedicate this chapter to FairyTailPeach! Peach wanted the lemon ;)**

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Levy was finished with her classes for the day and hoping to surprise her pierced boyfriend she skipped her way over to the gym that was closest to campus. Walking in the door she was greeted by the ever cheerful platinum haired receptionist.

"Levy! It's so nice to see you! How are you?" Mira stepped out from behind the counter to hug the petite blue haired girl.

"Hi Mira! I'm well thank you! Actually, I'm a bit tired. I stayed up pretty late last night waiting for Gajeel to get home." She yawned.

"What was he doing out so late?"

Levy tilted her head and blinked at the modelesque woman, "Wasn't he out with Laxus?"

Mira picked up on the confusion in her voice and without thinking she covered for her long haired coworker.

"You know what, he might have. I was at Lisanna's last night!"

Levy smiled and seemed to accept her excuse for an answer watching as Mira returned to her spot behind the counter.

"Oh! You're probably here for that boyfriend of yours! Gajeel should be back soon! I sent him on an errand. He has an office down the hall, third door on the left, go wait for him in there if you like."

Smiling, Levy thanked her friend as she walked down the hall towards Gajeel's office.

Mira glanced down the hall to make sure Levy found the right office and not long after she walked into the room Laxus strolled into the building.

"Dear, is there a proper reason I just covered Gajeel for being out so late last night? I was told he was with you and well, we both know that's not true." She said with a wink.

Laxus sighed as he listened to Mira talk about what had just transpired with Levy. When she finished her story he assured her everything was fine and kissed her nose before she strutted back to her post at the counter.

Gajeel sauntered in the door not long after and dropped off the bag of supplies to Mira. With the wave of his hand he accepted her thank you and headed down the hallway to his office.

Walking past the first office he heard Laxus call out to him and he slipped inside the room.

"Close the door behind you."

Gajeel clicked his tongue but did as he was asked. Turning around he was greeted with the large blonde's fury, his eyes were cold and angry and his fists were squeezed so tightly his knuckles were turning white.

"I told you I'd help you as much as I could, _if_ I could. But I swear to Mavis, Gajeel, if my woman has to lie for you one more time I will rip this whole thing wide open and ruin you."

Gajeel took a step back and held his hands up defensively.

"Chill out! I never asked Mira to lie for me or anything even remotely close to that. What the hell are you talking about?"

"Levy mentioned to her that you and I were out last night. You did help with the AC unit at the other location but I guess that was just so you weren't telling a complete lie huh?" Laxus relaxed his features and let out a deep breath, "I guess your little girlfriend got confused when Mira questioned the even later night outing, but for some unknown reason she covered for you. I won't stand for this Gajeel. This is your pile of shit, leave everyone else out of it!"

"I'll be more careful next time. I didn't mean for this to happen."

Gajeel stared at the floor, the hole he had found himself in was getting even deeper and now he was involving more innocent people. His stomach knotted as he turned to walk back out the door.

Laxus leaned against his desk like and crossed his arms, "Enjoy the surprise in your office."

With another wave that turned into a thumbs up Gajeel pushed open the door and stepped out, continuing down the hallway towards his office.

Normally Gajeel would be digging his office keys out of his pocket but he rarely if ever locked the door. His main office was at the other location, but with the air conditioning unit still broke he had temporarily moved here. Now that one, he kept locked.

He pushed the door handle down and opened the door not paying any mind to his surroundings. Closing the door and tossing his duffle bag to the corner he slumped over towards his desk and finally noticed he was not alone.

Occupying the chair at his desk was his ever beautiful blue haired girlfriend. She was looking up at him biting her bottom lip with a coy smile spread across her face.

"You must be the surprise Laxus was referring to." Gajeel grinned.

He watched as she stood from the chair and walked around the desk, coming to stand in front of him. She gingerly placed her small hands on his chest and ran a single finger up and down his toned upper physique. Her eyes locked on his as her smile became more devious.

"You don't have an appointment for another two hours and I'm finished with my class for the day. Is there any chance of you," she licked her lips, "penciling me in?"

A smug spread across Gajeel's face as he backed away from his little vixen and for the first time in nearly forever, he locked the door to his office.

"That shouldn't be a problem."

He broke the distance between them as he picked her up, placing her on top of his desk and claiming her lips. His hands skimmed over her slender body and settled on her ample hips as her own hands drew him in closer as she gripped at his shirt.

Releasing her lips, he trailed a line of kisses across her jaw, nipping at her flushed skin occasionally. Levy moved her arms from their hold at his chest and wrapped them around his neck as she leaned her head back to give the man better access.

"I've missed you Gajeel. It's been so long since you've touched me."

Gajeel let a groan settle in the back of his throat, something akin to a purr Levy had decided as he peppered her neck with warm, open mouth kisses.

Had they been at home he would have properly taken his time and made sure they both enjoyed the moment but alas they were not, instead he was at work and this place was a madhouse today. He was thankful his girlfriend had a dress, it would make the activity he had planned much easier.

It all happened too quick for Levy, one minute he was ravaging her neck and sending shivers up her spine and the next he was pulling her to the edge of his desk as he abruptly pulled off her bright purple panties and stuck them in his pocket. Before she had time to register what had happened he had disappeared to the floor and she felt his tongue between her folds.

Levy laid back against the table and dug her nails into the edge of the oak desk she was currently sprawled out on. As his gifted muscle twisted within her sex she was seeing stars and climbing a mountain of desire, for a few brief moments she forgot where they were and a trail of moans and screams of Gajeel's name fell from her lips once that glorious peak had been reached. Bucking off the table and tangling her fingers in his black unruly hair, she helf him in exactly the right spot as he pushed her back up that mountain.

He was getting more intense and she was getting louder, all modesty aside she was grinding herself against his tongue as her hand that was lost in his mane pushed him inside of her even deeper. Gajeel loved what he did to her, what she did to him and what she was doing right now was driving him mad.

The warmth of his tongue was lost just as she was ready to dive off the edge once more and she whined in protest. Gajeel replied with his signature laugh before silencing her further with a heated kiss.

"Ya want everyone to hear what we're doin' Shorty?"

Levy couldn't speak, in the heat of the moment she had completely forgot how to form words; simple moans and mewls were all she was capable of doing. Gajeel didn't mind though, he loved hearing the noises he made her make and the words he made her forget.

As her back returned to the desk he made short work of pulling down his gym shorts and then gathered the melted mess that was Levy into his arms and buried himself within her cavern.

Levy let out another scream, this time a little too loud and Gajeel felt obligated to silence her by swallowing her scream with a kiss. Desire, lust, passion, want and need all rolled into one as their tongues battled for dominance. Levy had her arms wrapped around his neck trailing her perfectly manicured nails down his back as she met him thrust for thrust. Gajeel was pulling her in closer and pushing himself in deeper as he gripped at her hips.

When their lips separated Gajeel stared into hooded eyes as she panted uncontrollably beneath his grasp. She threw her head back as each thrust brought her closer and closer to her peak, with the now easier access Gajeel reached forward and suckled at her neck. Biting and nipping and then sealing his mark with a lick from his tongue as Levy left half-moon imprints on his shoulders and scratches across his broad back.

As they both reached their release Gajeel sealed Levy's mouth with another heated kiss. Collapsing against his chest with her arms still wound around his upper body she rode out her climax, exasperating and whispering his name against the warm moist skin at his neck.

Slowly Gajeel pulled himself out from her inner warmth and she shuddered from the loss of feeling fulfilled. He wiped the sweat from her forehead and kissed her again.

"I'm off to the showers before my client gets here. We will continue this when I get home tonight."

Levy smiled as she caught her breath, "I look forward to it. I really hated having to be so quiet."

"Well ya kinda failed at that for the most part, but don't worry you can be as loud as ya want tonight."

Levy blushed and Gajeel just laughed at her assuring it wasn't the first time this hallway had heard the screams of pleasure before. Laxus and Mira currently had a running tally on how many customers made comments about the noise.

Gajeel showed Levy how to get access to the backdoor of the gym and told her that was the best route of escape after their escapade, kissed her once again and gave her a smack on the behind as she walked outside.

"By the way," Gajeel called out as she was walking away, "I'm keeping these!"

Levy instantly pushed down her dress down as she quickly realized he was twirling her panties around his index finger. Before she was able to protest the door shut between them.

…

A few days later Gajeel had been called back to the Phantom Lord warehouse for an update. He texted Levy that he'd be home late and to not wait up for him and left early from the gym. The men at the doors frisked him and then permitted him to go inside once they were satisfied with checking him over.

"I have a job for you. You'll be going with Jenny to a club downtown."

Gajeel inwardly sighed, it was bad enough he was spending his night away from Levy now he had to spend his night away from her at a club and with Jenny no less.

"What will I be doing?"

"There are rumors you can purchase a certain product that's being supplied by Dullahan Head. Buy some and bring it back."

"Why do I have to go with Jenny?"

"I'm crushed Gajeel. You don't want to spend any time with me? No lingering feelings from years ago?"

Jenny had snuck up behind him and was now draping her hands over his back and she ran a finger up and down his chest and breathed in his ear.

"None whatsoever." Gajeel shook her off and stepped away from the buxom blonde.

Jose snickered, "You'll learn to get along."

 _'_ _The bastard is doing this on purpose. Jenny is absolutely worthless; he's sending me out with her just to get a rise.'_ He thought to himself.

"Let's get this shit over with then." Gajeel stalked towards the exit of the warehouse not even bothering to wait on Jenny.

…

It was Saturday and Levy was gathering up clothes to wash in the laundry. She didn't normally put Gajeel's clothes in the wash, he was very adamant about making sure she didn't do more than necessary for him but this particular load was smaller than normal so she figured grabbing a few of his shirts wouldn't hurt.

As she was going through the hamper she picked up a shirt that reeked of perfume and cigarette smoke. Gajeel didn't smoke and that perfume was definitely not one of her regular scents, she shook her head, trying to rid herself of the thoughts that were attempting to force themselves into her head.

She shoved the shirt to the bottom of the pile and walked towards the laundry room ignoring the tear that escaped from her eye.

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 **Please leave me a review!**


	16. Chapter 16

**Sorry this took so long to update! I had exams and life and well...here it is now! Enjoy!**

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"Levy is everything alright? You seem…different."

"I'm fine, Lu."

"You know you can't lie to me. What's going on? Are you happy?"

The small girl's body heaved as she let loose a flood of tears. Levy was spending the weekend in Crocus to visit with Lucy, she had left without letting Gajeel know and he had yet to call or text her which only confirmed her suspicions that he probably had not been home. After the first sign of his infidelity she had come across more evidence and against her own will she had snooped through his phone one night while he was taking a shower. Finding numerous text messages from a Jenny and him only replying to stop using this phone. Levy had never found the other phone but she wasn't sure wanted to.

"No, I'm so far from happy Lu that I don't even know what that word means anymore."

"What happened?"

Levy told her everything. Taking longer than normal she spoke in between uncontrollable sobs and finally when Lucy had heard enough she cut her blue haired friend off and just hugged her while stroking her hair and placing friendly kisses to her forehead.

"What are you going to do? I'd love to tell you what you should do, but I know you're too head strong to do anything but what you set your own heart and mind to."

"I want to talk to him. I've not really talked to him, I've only just been a snoop and that's not fair. I want to know why."

Lucy blinked and quickly realized how much Levy had grown since her last relationship. Her last boyfriend was emotionally abusive on top of being a massive player and never once did she confront him or want to speak to him and it had been Lucy who had finally convinced her to get out after she had caught him in bed with their neighbor in the home they shared.

As the weekend came to a close Lucy dropped her best friend off at the train station and gave her a long hug goodbye. She invited her to come stay with her if things didn't go well after her graduation at the end of the week and Levy had promised to keep the offer open.

The long train ride home gave Levy a generous amount of time to think, too much time if she were completely honest. She loved Gajeel, truly and whole heartedly loved the stubborn man. Was she not enough for him? Had he grown tired of her? What if he had fallen back into old habits? Too many questions burned in her head.

Stepping into the home she now shared with Gajeel she set her bag down on the couch and tossed her keys into the bowl on the counter. Loud steps could be heard coming down the stairs, taking a deep breath and holding onto the courage she had managed to gain before she had walked inside she readied herself.

"Shorty. How are ya? Um, sorry I didn't come to bed last night, I crashed on the couch after work and when I woke up you were already gone."

Another deep breath.

"Gajeel, I wasn't even home this weekend. I left Thursday night. But maybe you might have noticed if you had been home yourself?"

Red eyes went wide, shock and surprise could be read as easily as a picture book across his face. Reaching up to run a hand through his long black mane she watched as his breathing picked up.

"Levy, I… let me explain."

"That's exactly what I want you to do, Gajeel. Explain to me why I'm suddenly not good enough, why you feel the need to seek a thrill elsewhere," she held a finger up to silence him, "do not lie to me. I've found text messages on your phone, your clothes reek of trashy perfume and cigarette smoke and I swear I found lipstick on the collar of one of them. Seriously, Gajeel? What did I do wrong?"

"Levy, you think I'm cheating on you?"

"Well what else am I supposed to think? All the evidence is there! Who is Jenny?!"

Levy hadn't meant to raise her voice but her courage was fading fast and he was playing dumb which only made her heart hurt worst. She noticed the change in his stance, his once relaxed shoulders were tense and his eyes were staring at the floor in front of him.

The silence had gone on for too long and finally losing all of her confidence Levy walked past her stunned boyfriend, passing by him he reached for her wrist but she quickly pulled it away.

"Just leave me be."

Watching as she went up the stairs he felt his entire world start to crumble. The worst case scenario was happening right before his eyes and he had no one to blame but himself. She should be blaming him, yelling at him, but he knew better, she was blaming herself and that tore his heart to pieces.

He waited a few minutes and then quietly trekked up the stairs heading towards their bedroom. Knocking gently against the doorframe he stepped inside, the small bundle cuddled under the covers didn't move, but he knew she wasn't asleep.

"Levy, you don't have to talk to me if you don't want to but at least just listen."

A head full of wild blue curls peeked out from under the covers and blinked at him. Gajeel moved slowly into the room while Levy shifted herself against the pillows at the headboard and hugged her legs to her chest.

"Levy, I promise you I am not cheating. I would never do that to you, I know how much you hurt from your ex and I would never want to responsible for making you feel that way again. Plus, you're all I need and more, why would I ever want to lose what we have? No other woman is worth it, no other woman can even compare. I love you Levy McGarden."

A long silence passed between the two before he sat on the edge of the bed and cupped her cheeks in his hands, wiping her tears away with his thumb. He leaned forward to place a long but gentle kiss against her forehead.

"I want to believe you, I do. But I feel like I'm staring my past right in the face, what am I supposed to think?"

"I know this situation doesn't look good, and I'd feel the same way, but I'm asking you to trust me. I got myself into something and I will see it through, just trust me."

"Who's Jenny?"

"She's no-one. A coworker you could say. Levy I give you my word I have not disrespected you in any form or manner."

Finally lifting her head to look him in the eyes, red meeting with warm hazel. She let out a long breath and reached up to place her hands atop his as she leaned into one of his palms.

"I'll trust you."

…

"Levy Nora McGarden"

An eruption of cheers shot through the auditorium as Levy made her way across the large stage, her black robes billowing behind her and vibrant blue hair bouncing with each step she took under her graduation cap. Waving to her group of friends seated in the bleachers she smiled brightly, shook the Dean's hand and accepted her diploma.

"Is she wearing those hideous flats?" Lucy gasped.

"She had herself convinced she would fall flat on her face if she wore anything with even the slightest of heels." Gajeel laughed thinking back to the argument that had occurred earlier that morning over shoes.

Lucy shook her head, "Oh that girl."

Gajeel gave another proud holler towards the stage and held a victory hand high in the air. His phone deep in his left pocket vibrated against his skin and his gut clenched, that wasn't his personal phone. With everyone distracted he dug the device out and was somewhat relieved to see it was just a text. That relief was soon washed away though when the sender was none other than his despicable boss, Jose.

' _Tonight. Club Raventail, there's been talk of a drop. 11pm.'_

"Shit." Gajeel muttered to himself as he shoved the offending chunk of metal back into the confines of his pocket.

"Ya okay, bro?" Rogue has turned around and was cocking an eyebrow at his older brother.

"Fine and dandy!" Gajeel lied.

Making their way down from the bleachers Gajeel kept his eye out for the little blue haired shorty, even amongst the large crowd he would still be able to spot her.

"Oi! Found her! Over here!" He yelled behind him to the group and they pushed their way through until he felt the slight impact of his girlfriend colliding into his chest and wrapping her arms around him. In one big swoop he lifted her up above his head and hugged her before kissing her lips and dropping her back to the ground.

"Congratulations, Shorty! Ya did it!"

"Levy! I'm so excited for you! A double major and a minor and all in four years!" The blonde hugged her friend as they both smiled and laughed.

"So let's bust outta this place and go celebrate!" Laxus clapped the newly graduated woman on the back a little too hard from his enthusiasm and she tumbled into Gajeel who only wrapped his arms around her and lifted her back high above him.

Levy had decided on a bar not too far from her and Gajeel's house so that way if anyone celebrated too much they'd be welcome to crash there for the night. Laxus, Mira, Natsu, Lucy, Rogue and of course Gajeel and Levy were well into enjoying the night when Gajeel noticed the time was quickly approaching. Pulling Levy off to the side he told her would be right back and kissed her. A slightly inebriated Levy pulled him in closer and deepened the kiss before Gajeel reluctantly separated himself from her and escaped into the night.

It wasn't a surprise to Gajeel to see Jenny waiting at the bar, rolling his eyes he walked up and sat down on the free stool beside her.

"Buy me a drink."

"Buy your own drink woman. I ain't spending my money on you."

Jenny huffed and inched closer, running a brightly painted red nail down his chest while the other rubbed circles on his thigh, "That's no way to treat a lady, Gajeel." She pouted.

"Barkeep, get me a double whiskey on the rocks and get her whatever will get her disgustin' hands off of me."

"I'll take a greyhound. Anyway my dear, we're here for business so let's not forget that."

"Well tell me what ya know, I wanna get outta here as soon as I can."

"Oh would you rather be spending time with that little girlfriend of yours?"

Gajeel glared back at her as he took a drink from his glass. Jenny giggled and stood from her stool to dangle her arms over his shoulders, making patterns with her nails across his chest, leaning closer to nibble against his ear and whisper.

"You know, the one who is currently staring at us right now?"

Nearly dropping his glass his eyes grew large and he turned away from the bar, not a few feet away from him was Levy; staring at him, mouth open and face covered in tears. Shoving Jenny off of him he leapt from the bar stool and walked towards Levy.

"Shorty, what'r ya doin' here?"

"Rogue said this place had cheap drinks, what are you doing here?"

Gajeel was dumbfounded, in his moment of hesitation Jenny had walked back up and wrapped an arm around his bicep.

"You must be Levy. You're a cute little thing, but Gajeel needs a real woman. I'm Jenny."

Levy's face twisted in anger she shot forward and in one quick motion her hand connected against Gajeel's cheek in a loud slap. Clutching her hand back to her chest she rubbed at the sting as a flood of tears rolled down her face.

"Gajeel, what the fuck are you doing?"

Rogue stepped forward and wrapped an arm around Levy's shoulders as Lucy stepped up and took the other side. Before either of them could say anything more moving from the shadows Laxus' fist made contact with Gajeel's face.

"I'll handle this, excuse us."

With no further explanation Laxus wrapped a strong arm Levy's waist and pulled her away and out of the bar. Lucy shot another ill look in Gajeel's direction and took off towards her friend who had been swept away by the large blond, Rogue shook his head and followed behind them.

"Fuck."

Gajeel held a hand to his bloody nose but made no quick movements to stop it, he knew it had to be broke the pain only reinforced that thought. But what hurt worse was the sting on his cheek and the pain in his heart, that pain was intense.

"I hope you know you can't leave; our job isn't finished."

"Fuck you, you stupid woman! You're lucky I don't haul your dead carcass out to the dumpster after that stunt."

Jenny's smile only infuriated him more.

 _"Levy, I'm so sorry. I'm so incredibly sorry."_

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 **Anyone need tissues? As always, please review! Your reviews give me life! They give me hope! They keep me motivated! I would like to pose a challenge...can this chapter get say...15 reviews? If it does, I'll update again before the end of the week! One review per person! Thank you guys!**


	17. Chapter 17

**Holy moly!** **The reviews I received** **from that last update! WOOOOW! THANK YOU! I realize this is a little late but if you follow me on Tumblr you're aware of the curve balls life decided to throw me, but I'm trekking on! Enjoy this update!**

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Levy's body shivered with her emotions, tears were still falling heavily from her hazel orbs, retracing the stains left behind by their predecessors. With a warm hand at her back Laxus escorted her into the apartment he shared with Mira who fluttered past them and opened the linen closet grabbing two pillows, and a large fleece blanket.

Shutting the closet door and walking back into the living room, she deposited the pillows and blanket on the couch where Levy now sat, "I'm going to let you two talk, if you need anything please don't hesitate to ask."

With a sniffle and a nod of her head Levy replied to Mira's kind words, "Thank you," she said weakly.

Laxus grabbed the ottoman sitting in front of the recliner and drug it over to sit in front of Levy. Relaxing his shoulders, he placed his elbows on his knees and let out a deep breath. Levy wiped another stray tear from her face and looked up to meet with his dark eyes.

"I realize what you saw tonight looked extremely bad and I am in no way defending his actions but I can assure you, Gajeel is not and has not ever cheated on you. He's completely and wholly devoted to you."

"How do you know this?" Levy asked between sobs.

Laxus took another deep breath and rolled his shoulders back as Levy cuddled into the blanket while not breaking her eye contact with the large blond.

"I more or less know what has been going on. He's kept me updated from the beginning, and I've been telling him for months now he needed to tell you."

"Months? What are you talking about?"

Laxus squeezed the bridge of his nose and exhaled, standing up he paced back and forth in the room explaining to Levy everything he knew about what Gajeel had been doing. Somehow Levy's body managed to produce more tears and they spilled from her eyes like a waterfall as she listened to his words.

The more he spoke the more things started to make sense, the late nights, the irritability, the unexplained tiredness and fatigue, the puzzle pieces were starting to fall into place. Her heart ached with every word and she wished she was hearing all of this from Gajeel and not Laxus. When he had finished he sat back down on the ottoman and met with Levy's red eyes.

"He's an idiot. You shouldn't have been the one to tell me all this, it wasn't your responsibility. Thank you Laxus, for everything."

The hulking man stood and placed a gentle hand on the top of Levy's head, "No thanks needed, little one. He may be my best friend but you're right, he's one hell of an idiot. I'd hate to see him lose the one good thing in his life but that's all up to you. Try and get some sleep, if you need anything at all our bedroom is the last door on the left."

Levy smiled and nodded her head as he tiredly strolled down the hallway. Grabbing the pillows Mira had brought her earlier she placed them at her end of the couch, shifting her body she rolled sideways and snuggled into the blanket. Miraculously, her brain managed stayed quiet, most likely from her exhaustion from crying and she soon found sleep.

The next day Levy woke to an empty apartment, wrapping the blanket around her small frame she shuffled into the kitchen and noticed a note on the table, the script was too elegant to be from anyone other than long haired blonde woman who inhabited the apartment she was currently staying in.

 _Levy,_

 _Please make yourself at home, we've gone to work but don't feel you need to leave. I will be back around 4 and Laxus will be home around 7. Help yourself to whatever you like in the fridge. See you soon! -M & L p.s. My sister is nearly your size so I laid out some of her spare clothes in the bathroom, I'm sure you'd love to take a shower._

As she finished reading the note her stomach alerted her to the emptiness it felt, noticing the cereal on the counter she searched the cabinets and drawers for a bowl and spoon and grabbed the milk from the refrigerator.

She plopped down at the table and began to eat her cereal when the memories of last night crept up on her, her heart pinged as she remembered seeing that woman so close to Gajeel but Laxus' words had managed to reach her and deep down she believed he hadn't truly cheated, but the hurt was still there.

There was just one more person Levy wanted to speak with and after she finished her breakfast and cleaned her dishes she rummaged through her purse for her cell phone to make her desired phone call.

When the phone call was over she sent a quick text to another person in her contacts and decided it was best to take a shower. The clothes Mira had laid out for her were a bit big in the chest area but she was grateful none the less, slipping out of her clothes from the night before she turned on the hot water and when it reached the right temperature she stepped into the stream.

The warm water eased and soothed her tense muscles and Levy allowed herself to take longer than normal, but remembering she was a guest she finished up and shut the water off. Drying herself off she slipped into the blue gym shorts and pale pink shirt.

Walking back into the living room while running a comb through her wet blue locks she looked up and noticed her pierced, long haired boyfriend standing a few feet away from her.

"Gajeel, what are you doing here?"

"Laxus told me you were here, I knocked but you didn't answer so I used the spare. I thought you might have left already."

Levy blinked and her eyes danced around the brightly colored apartment, doing her best to avoid making eye contact she admired the different artwork hanging on the walls and when the silence became too much she heard him speak again.

"Levy, I don't know where to even begin to say I'm sorry. Laxus said he told ya everythin', but you shouldn't have had to hear it from him."

"I just want to know why, Gajeel."

"Why? I…my Pops…"

"No Gajeel, I can kind of understand why you did what you felt you had to, I want to know why I had to find out from Laxus. Why you didn't feel you could trust me enough to tell me yourself, why the secrets and lies even had to happen in the first place."

Gajeel sat down on the couch and put his head in his hands, "Lev, I never meant to hurt you. And I didn't tell you because I didn't want you to get involved in my mess, I wanted to keep you safe."

Levy placed herself on the floor in front of her boyfriend and took his hands in her own as she moved them away from his face.

"Gajeel Redfox, we were supposed to be partners, a team, whatever mess you get yourself into I should be right there with you and vice versa."

Turning his hands over to lace his fingers with hers he brought them into his lap, "This wasn't a mess you needed to be in. You had so much going on and my past was getting the better of me, I was terrified of losing you."

Standing back up she took her hands back, "You've really betrayed my trust Gajeel, my heart hurts. My entire world crashed down around me last night when I saw you with that woman, I can't get that image out of my head. I do believe you didn't cheat on me, but the fact still stands you hurt me. I need some time; I'm going away for a few days. You need to do some thinking too, when I get back we will talk about us."

"Where are you going?"

Levy shook her head, "That's not important, but just know I am going for us. You need to figure out what you want and do something before I get back, okay?"

Gajeel stood and walked towards the door gripping the doorknob he turned his head back towards Levy, "I am not going to lose you."

When the door shut behind him Levy smiled and whispered, "Then don't."

…

The train station was busy for a Tuesday morning, Levy had her bag slung across her shoulder and was waiting for her train to arrive at the platform.

"Levy, you sure about going alone? It's not too late for me to get a ticket and go with you."

"Thanks Rogue, but I'll be okay. I need to go alone and speak with her."

Rogue crossed his arms, "Alright, do you have a ride when you get there?"

"Yes, I already spoke with her you know." She smiled,

"She's picking me up at the station. I'll be fine."

"Okay, okay, okay! Does Gajeel know you're going?"

Levy's face went still and her smile slowly vanished as she shook her head, "No, he doesn't know I'm going to see her."

"I won't say anything then. He's not been home much anyway." Rogue noticed the sad look spread across her face and inwardly punched himself, "Sorry."

"It's alright. I gotta go my train is here, Rogue, thanks again."

"Sure thing, and well if you decide to totally drop his ass, I wouldn't mind takin' ya back."

He gave her a wink and Levy laughed as she resituated her bag and walked towards the open doors of the train, turning back to wave goodbye once m

ore she stepped inside. Levy found her seat and sat down on the blue bench, leaning her head back against the seat she stared out the window as the train began to pull away.

A few hours later Levy awoke to the train pulling into the Oak Town station,

grabbing her bag from the overhead compartment she waited as a rush of passengers flooded the aisle and when enough people had exited the train she stepped out of her small compartment and moved towards the doors.

Stepping out onto the platform she moved through the crowd and scanned the area, spotting the tall woman she was looking for she walked over and waved when the woman noticed her.

"Levy! My dear it's so nice to see you again, how was your trip?"

"Gemma," she smiled, "it went well! But it's always nice to be off the train, they're so stuffy."

Gajeel's mother wrapped the girl in a hug, releasing her but leaving an arm draped over her shoulders she directed Levy towards the car.

"I kicked Skiadrum out for the day, so it's just us girls."

"You didn't have to do that."

"No, I did. Not even he knows everything I'm going to tell you, I'm laying everything out on the table. I assume my son doesn't know you're here?"

"No, we've not spoke in a few days, not since I called you."

"Well, we have lots to discuss my dear, let's get home shall we?"

* * *

 **Fairly shorter than my normal updates but I have a lot planned for this interaction! There won't be another update before Christmas, so Merry Christmas everyone!**


	18. Chapter 18

**Hello! Sorry for the long wait, but here we finally find out some information on Gajeel's past. I hope you enjoy!**

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Gemma pulled into the long driveway of a large single story home complete with dark green siding and a vibrant red door, it reminded Levy of Christmas and she couldn't help the small giggle that escaped her.

"Let me guess, Christmas huh?"

"Do you get that a lot?"

"Skiadrum thought it would be hilarious to have a red door, I don't even notice it anymore, not until someone else does. Come on inside!"

Gemma guided Levy inside, upon stepping through the front door the small fourier gave way to a small hallway leading into the dining room, the living room was situated directly to the left of the front door, walking towards the dining room another hallway branched off to the right leading to additional rooms and beside the dining room was a warm and expansive kitchen.

"You can put your things in the room at the end of the hall, I'm going to go make us some coffee, how's that sound?"

"That sounds wonderful, thank you."

The room at the end of the wall was mostly empty save for a large bed with black sheets and pillows, a night stand, a small bookshelf and a tall dresser. Even with the emptiness around her the space still felt like Gajeel to her. This had to have at one time been his room, and the small metal figures adorning the nearly empty bookshelf confirmed her suspicions. If she tried hard enough she could smell his deep earthy scent lingering throughout the bedroom. A tear threatened to escape but she fought it back as she set her bag next to the bed and quickly escaped down the hall joined Gemma in the dining room.

"Did he live here?"

Gemma looked up from where she was in the kitchen pouring coffee into the cat faced mug, "Not really, that was his room but he's only stayed in it a handful of times. He didn't spend much time here. Rogue grew up here though, his room is still the same as it was before he moved out, it's the one at the beginning of the hallway if you get curious enough."

"Where did he grow up?"

Gemma smiled as she brought the two mugs over, handing one of them to Levy she motioned towards the living room. Sitting down on the large floral patterned couch she took a deep breath.

"I'm going to lay it all out for you, hun, you deserve that much, and whatever your decision is upon leaving here I will respect it whole heartedly, that goes for your thoughts on Gajeel and your thoughts towards myself. I love my son, don't get me wrong, he's my first born, he'll always be my baby but that doesn't mean I can't think he's a jerk. He's hurt a lot of people along the way, but at the same time the people that should have been the most important to him have hurt him even worse and I don't want to see you ending up on his list of broken hearts.

"He's far too similar to his father, and that man had the potential to be great, but he had no desire and therefore he ended up ruining his life. I don't want to see Gajeel end up like his father, he was doing so well and now," she took a long sip from her mug and stared down at the milky brown liquid, "he's on the same path his father took. I can't ask you to save him, it's not fair of me to do so, but I do hope he will realize what he has, or did have with you and saves himself."

Levy took a sip from her mug and set the cup down on the table, taking Gemma's cup from her she did the same and then took the older woman's hands in her own.

"I don't know what I'll do based on what you tell me, but I promise I won't give up, I promise I will at least try. I love that fool too much to just throw in the towel completely."

Gemma smiled and nodded her head, "Gajeel had always been hard to handle, even when he was a lot younger, I worked full time so his father spent the most time with him, he was a self-employed welder and had a more open schedule. His father never really disciplined him so his behavior only got worse as he grew up and when he started school he was constantly in trouble. It was also around that time our marriage fell apart, Metalicana, his father, started spending more time away from home. He would just vanish and it would be days before he would reappear again, there was no one to take care of Gajeel so I had to call off work more than a handful of times, I nearly lost my job.

"When Gajeel started the first grade money started disappearing, then my heirloom jewelry. I caught Metalicana in the act one day and he admitted he had been selling them to fund his drug habits, he took off again after that and a year later we were finally divorced."

Gemma took another sip from her coffee mug, placing it back on the coaster sitting atop the marble coffee table she took another deep breath and continued her story.

"I met Skiadrum through my divorce lawyer, he is also a lawyer and they worked in the same building. I probably moved a lot faster than I should have, especially with a young child, but I had stars in my eyes and my heart craved the attention and love of a man it had been denied for so long, him and I were married a year later and not long after that I found out I was pregnant."

Moving fast was an understatement, Levy thought to herself. In two years Gajeel had managed to see his father fall apart and leave him then to suddenly have another man thrust into his life was hard enough on a young boy. Now a younger sibling?

"How did Gajeel handle all this?"

Gemma frowned, "Not well. I thought that since he was young enough it wouldn't be that big of a deal, I couldn't have been more wrong. Not once was he excited or happy even though we were in a loving and joyous family. It only got worse after Rogue was born, he became more and more like his father. I had promised I would never keep Metalicana from our son, but after a few years he would spend more and more time with him and eventually he would spend a weekend a month here, if I was lucky."

Levy didn't know how to react when Gemma started sobbing, moving closer to the woman to try and offer some form of comfort the woman held her hand up to stop her and gently shook her head.

"I don't deserve your sympathy, I turned my back on my son, I was so blinded by my happy life I let him walk out and ruin his. I saw him occasionally through the years, he had dropped out of high school long before I was aware of it and I did absolutely nothing. I had heard rumors his father was part of a gang and Skiadrum had tried to do some investigating but the only thing we found out was the name of the gang and that Gajeel was an avid drug abuser.

"When Gajeel's father ended up in jail a man from Phantom Lord, the gang he had been a part of sought Gajeel out, Gajeel joined without hesitation. From what I was told he quickly gained rank and was soon the leader's right hand man. I am not completely aware of what all he did, but from the various stories I have heard over the years the only thing he didn't do was kill someone, but there were a few close calls, he had always had a passion for going too far in a fight. A few years later Metalicana was released from jail and he came to me."

Gemma's eyes hazed over as if she were remembering the day perfectly.

"Rogue was a teenager, I hadn't spoken to my ex-husband in over thirteen years, but he still came to me. He had heard about Gajeel while he was in jail and Metalicana had assured me he was on the right path to getting clean and even though he had lost me all those years ago he wouldn't lose our son and he promised me he'd do him right. Metalicana had also reached out to another man he knew, Ivan Dreyer, I didn't know this at the time but he was the leader of a rival gang to Phantom Lord.

"Dreyer." Levy had heard this name before and hadn't realized when she had spoken aloud.

"Ah yes, you know Laxus Dreyer, he's Ivan's son, Makarov is Ivan's father and Laxus' grandfather. I didn't know any of them, Metalicana had mentioned only Ivan to me. I only half trusted what my ex had been saying to me, if that, but now I am rather thankful that Ivan got somewhat involved otherwise they would have never intervened."

"Intervened? So Makarov and Laxus were not part of Gajeel's father's original plan?"

Gemma reached over to take another drink from her coffee, Levy followed suit and glanced up at the clock hanging on the wall above them, a few hours had come and gone since Levy had and their conversation had started.

Levy was somewhat familiar with what Laxus and his grandfather had done for Gajeel, so bits and pieces of this part of Gemma's story she was not hearing for the first time, but she had never really known just how Gajeel had met with the two men who worked so hard to pull him from the murky waters he was essentially drowning in. Laxus had befriended Gajeel instantly and with Makarov's help he was able to leave behind Phantom Lord and start a clean slate, he went to college, received his degree and had a job that made him happy; Laxus had been the one to tell that particular story to Levy.

"Far from it I'm afraid. Metalicana had lied to me and had an entirely different agenda planned, he wanted Phantom Lord out of the picture and was hoping to get in with Ivan and drag Gajeel along with him. But when Makarov caught wind of his son's dealings him and Laxus stepped in and did more for Gajeel than anyone had ever done for him."

A tear slipped out of the woman's eye and she made no move to wipe it away as another followed in its wake.

"I can't even say I tried to do anything, I really failed him as a mother. I sat on the sidelines and watched him as he got pulled in deeper and deeper and I just soaked up my happy little home life with Skiadrum and Rogue. Rogue had even tried; it was a lost cause of course but he did more than I ever did."

Levy stretched her arms out and took Gemma's hands in her own as a tear rolled down her own cheek, "Gajeel may not be the most pleased with you, but I know he doesn't see you as a failure. He chose that path himself and he has no one to blame but himself, it's not entirely your fault."

Levy took a deep breath, "Not to rub salt to the wound, but just from hearing all of this I know without a doubt I am not going to give up on him, he's not had many people extend a helping hand and I don't think I could go on without trying. I love him too much and I don't want to lose what we had."

A warm smile graced Gemma's face and she squeezed the petite woman's hands that were still holding hers, "Thank you. I can't say much more than that, but thank you. I've told you everything I know; do you happen to know how he ended up in the mess he's in now?"

Levy nodded her head, "Laxus told me everything Gajeel had told him. Gajeel's father messed up again a couple years ago and was possibly going to prison, Gajeel had went back to Phantom Lord asking for their help in keeping him out of prison, they pulled some strings and he only did some time in jail but Gajeel had a debt over his head now."

"That man wound up in prison anyway, what a way to thank his son."

"Yeah. Anyway, Jose, the leader of Phantom Lord according to Laxus, called on him to pay back his debt. That's why he's in deep water now. I'm not exactly sure what they have him doing, but when I found him…" Levy stopped short from telling her what she had seen that night, her stomach churned remembering the sight of that woman with her hands practically down his pants and the snide remarks the woman had hissed at her still made Levy's blood boil.

Gemma started to speak again when the sound of the front door opening and closing drew the two women's attention elsewhere.

Skiadrum walked into the room, "Sorry to interrupt your girl time but I thought I should let you know I received a call and I need to go to Magnolia."

Gemma leapt from the couch, eyes full of worry as her hands covered her mouth, "Magnolia? Is Rogue okay?"

Levy noticed the way his shifted towards her for a brief moment and with that she couldn't also help but notice the sigh he let out as his shoulders sagged. Her heart dropped.

"It's…not Rogue. It's Gajeel."

* * *

 **Gajeel just needed someone to love him :( Anyway, let me know what you think! Please review! I have most of the next chapter done, so you guys shouldn't have to wait as long as you did for this one! Thank you!**


	19. Chapter 19

**My apologies for the delay, for those who follow me on Tumblr you know I've been in a major slump and had taken a brief hiatus, but I have found that writing as helped me overcome my severe depression life has handed me and I'm able to write. I hope you enjoy this chapter. :)**

* * *

"Is my son okay?" Gemma's voice faltered as she watched her husband's shoulder slump,

"He is alive but I really can't answer that right now because honestly I'm not sure if he is _okay_. But what I do know is that after years of avoidance he finally reached out to me, he needs me for once and I don't intend to betray his trust, not even to his mother." His eyes landed back on Levy as he pulled a duffle bag from a closet nearby, "Have you unpacked?"

Levy blinked at the question and a nod from the man assured her it had indeed been directed at her, "No, no I've not unpacked."

"Good, you're coming with me. I need to grab a few things and we'll be leaving shortly."

Gemma's face twisted, shooting a glare at Skiadrum and then at the petite girl sitting next to her she stood from the couch and followed her husband down the hallway. Levy remained on the couch, from here she could hear the grumbles of Gajeel's mother asking why she wasn't allowed to know what was going on yet Levy was permitted to leave and go back with him. Her stomach knotted, she hadn't meant for this to happen, the progress she had made with Gajeel's mother only hours ago was now quite possibly going down the drain.

Levy hadn't realized how long she had had sat on the couch practically motionless and staring down at her hands until Skiadrum stepped back into the room, moving her eyes up to meet with his she noticed her bag slung over one of his shoulders, rising from the couch she thanked him and followed his lead to the door.

Gemma stood at the door holding Levy's jacket and purse, "I'm sorry. I…"

"It's okay, you're his mother, it's alright." Reaching out for her jacket, she slipped it on and then took her purse, "I won't give up on him."

Levy didn't wait for a reply from the woman instead she turned and followed Skiadrum out the door she had only just passed through for the first time earlier that morning. Skiadrum opened the passenger door and allowed her to settle herself inside the car before gently shutting it and then opening the rear door and tossing their bags onto the backseat.

Sneaking a glance at the man as he got inside the car she couldn't help but notice the striking resemblance between him and Rogue, there was no question they were definitely father and son and even though Gajeel was not his blood son, she could still see similar characteristics between the two men. The thought brought the tiniest of smiles to her face.

"Ready to go, pipsqueak?"

Levy huffed and pursed her lips at the man who replied with a smile, "Yes, I'm ready. And must we use nicknames?"

"Just trying to make this trip a little less awkward for ya, hun! We've got a long drive ahead of us."

Levy took one long last look at the house Gajeel use to call home as he backed the car out of the driveway. She had momentarily forgotten that the last time she had met Gajeel's stepfather she had been severely under dressed, thinking back to that particular thought caused an intense shade of red to spread across her cheeks, she hastily turned her head to look out the window, doing her best to hide her embarrassment.

"Too hot in here?" A deep voice came from the driver's side.

"Hm? Oh no, it's fine, I think I'm just really worried about Gajeel. Say why aren't we taking the train?"

Levy was surprised at the fit of laughter that came as an answer to her question, she couldn't help the smile that crossed her face that was quickly chased away when he became silent and gave her a very serious facial expression. "Cheney's don't do trains."

"Neither does Gajeel, what's up with that?"

"Motion sickness my dear petite blue-haired future daughter-in-law."

Levy rolled her eyes, "That's only if your son is okay," turning towards Skiadrum with furrowed brows she spoke softly; "he is okay, isn't he?"

The air inside the car shifted, feeling the serious atmosphere take over and noticing the look on Skiadrum's face only further justified her thoughts. He hadn't said much to Gemma in the house prior to their departure, he hadn't even told his wife, Gajeel's own mother if her son was indeed alright.

She couldn't be certain if he intended to answer her or not so when the silence had gone on for too long she turned back to the window and watched the scenery pass by sending up a silent prayer that the man she loved so dearly was indeed okay and she would find herself back within his warm embrace sooner than later. The soft hum of the radio allowed her something to focus on something rather than permitting her thoughts to run amuck.

"Tell me how you met him."

Snapping back to reality she turned back towards the black haired man, "Gajeel? That's an odd and somewhat complicated story." She answered with a shy smile.

"Well we do have quite the long drive and I'll make it worth your time, I'll share some stories of my own," his eyes left the road briefly to smile back at her and wink.

Levy relaxed her shoulders and smiled back, it was hard to turn down an offer like that.

"I met Rogue first, we were supposed to have been set up on a blind date by some friends of ours but we," Levy took a deep breath and thought for a moment on how to continue without sharing too much, "well we met each other by chance prior to our intended introductions which happened a few days later. It was a bit awkward to be honest."

"Awkward would be if you had been the girl from the bathroom at the bar I heard all about!" Skiadrum chuckled and stole a glance to Levy only to see her face had turned white as a ghost while simultaneously sporting an intense shade of red. His chuckle quickly turned into a choke, "Holy shit, you're the girl from the bar aren't ya?"

Levy swallowed and managed a nod in reply.

After that revelation the silence in the car became heavy and an awkward tension hung in the air around them, Levy had once again returned to staring out the window. How, she wondered, did she manage to keep ending up in these strange situations with Gajeel's stepfather and why did they all seem to revolve around her sex life; it was a never ending nightmare.

It took only a moment for her thoughts to center back on Gajeel, her heart squeezing with worry and anticipation. They were still a good six hours away from Magnolia and every passing moment only increased her panic over what could have possibly happened to him. She tried to not let herself overthink, doing that would get her nowhere and she had to remain positive. She knew he was alive and able enough to make a phone call to Skiadrum, that had been confirmed when she had still been with Gemma.

"So where did Gajeel come into the mix? I know he broke his brother's nose a while back and I'm going to assume that was probably over you?"

Levy turned away from the window but avoided eye contact with the man, instead she fixed her gaze out the front of the car through the windshield, "Him and I had a bit of a rough start, after um, meeting Rogue I ran into him, quite literally, as I was trying to get back to my friends and managed to spill his drink all over him. I apologized and threw a handful of money at him for ruining his shirt and rushed off again. It wasn't until a few days later when I was properly introduced to Rogue that I had another run in with him, Rogue had been bragging about the girl at the bar and when Gajeel found out it was me, he kind of blew up. He didn't really let up after that and eventually we got together."

The silence didn't last long and when Skiadrum spoke again Levy was taken back as he made no comment towards her story but instead began one of his own, "I met Gemma in the same building her divorce lawyer was in, him and I were part of the same firm but we specialized in different areas. The ink hadn't even dried on her divorce papers and I pursued her headstrong, it was a bad choice on my part but I don't regret it, I knew the moment I saw that woman she was the one. A lot of my friends at the time told me to watch out, she was using me as a rebound and when the novelty wore off she'd vanish in the morning; she never did. She became pregnant with Rogue very early on in our relationship, probably another bad choice but again, one I don't regret."

Levy was already somewhat familiar with this story from her discussion with Gemma, but for some unknown reason the way he told his version gripped her in a new and unfamiliar way.

"What I do regret is not paying enough attention to Gajeel. He was hurting, badly. He was being strung along by his father, felt forsaken by his mother and now there was this new man that was suddenly thrusted into his life that was supposed to fill the role of a father figure, his emotions were terribly unstable. I admit I did try, but by the time I did he was too far gone. Him and I have never seen eye to eye, we're civil towards each other but that's about as far as our relationship goes."

"For him to call you like this, it must really mean a lot to you."

A smile flashed across his face and Levy couldn't help but think how serene he appeared at this moment.

"More than you know. Which is why I told him he could trust me, though I doubt I get too much flak from him for bringing you along."

"He doesn't know I'm coming?" Levy shifted her body in the seat towards the man.

Skiadrum shook his head with a cocky smile, the visual reminded her of Rogue. "Nope, he has no idea." Stealing a glance towards the petite girl sharing the car with him he laughed at her shocked appearance. "Don't you worry your little self! He won't be mad, and if he is it'll only be at me, and it won't last long. He knows he needs me right now."

"What happened? Don't avoid the question, you have been evading it ever since we left the house, is Gajeel okay?"

Levy stared at him through hazel eyes, she could see him tense up and relax, only to repeat the process over again. The longer the silence went on, the faster her heart raced and her patience was wearing thin. She'd find out soon enough, he had drug her along on this trip so he couldn't exactly keep her in the dark forever.

"Saying he is okay is a tough call. I mean, he's physically alright, more or less."

"More or less?" She inquired.

"He was involved in an altercation, he suffered minor injuries but…"

Skiadrum took a deep breath and briefly looked over at Levy who was sitting in an almost uncomfortable position, waiting for him to continue. Her eyes pleaded with him to tell her what he knew and at that point his wall came down.

"He was involved in a drug raid by another gang, him and a rival member fought, the man he subdued is currently in the ICU, Gajeel beat him close to death. It was self-defense he assured me but he has an attempted murder charge hanging over his head along with an array of various other felony charges. He's currently in holding at the Magnolia jail pending his court hearing where he could be looking at a reunion with his biological father."

"Gajeel could be going to prison is what you're saying?"

Her answer came in the form of a nod from the man beside her. Twisting back to put herself in the proper seating position she laid her head against the seat and stared out the window again. The scenery sped by as she looked out, though there wasn't much to see driving on the interstate, a few trees here and there and mostly just signs alerting drivers to upcoming exits and the closest place to grab greasy fast food but it served its job well enough for an escape to or from her thoughts.

She had promised she wouldn't give up on him, but what was she supposed to do if he wound up in prison, not that she wouldn't still stand by his side, she loved him and not even prison could change that. Then a thought struck her, she turned back towards Skiadrum who at the moment was trying to merge left and pass a rather slow truck driving in front of them.

"You're representing him, aren't you?"

He didn't meet her gaze but the corners of his mouth turned up showing off a fanged smile, "I am very good at what I do, and I'm going to do my damnedest to keep his ass out of prison, you can count on that. I may have brought you along on a selfish whim, you're my collateral to make sure he cooperates with me."

Levy suppressed a giggle, "You'll have to instruct me as to what you need me to do."

"Oh that's easy, sit there and be cute oh and flash him those sad puppy dog eyes. Maybe wear that little number you had on the first time I met ya."

Levy blushed, "Gajeel destroyed that after you left. He said it was tainted."

Skiadrum erupted into a fit of deep laughter and Levy couldn't help but join him. Despite the more than awkward occurrences she had had with this man thus far she had to admit that he was rather pleasant to spend time with and despite all she could tell he truly cared for Gajeel.

The scenery outside had changed by this point and Levy was enjoying being able to see the mountains and trees, the train had been going far too fast for her to really appreciate the view but the being in a car allowed her to gaze upon the snowcapped peaks in the distance.

…

Levy hadn't realized she had fallen asleep until she felt a gentle hand tapping her on the shoulder and a deep voice echoing through her consciousness.

"Levy? Wake up. Hey wake up!"

She blinked and answered with a yawn, "Hmm? Skiadrum?"

"Haha, not quite."

With a few more blinks her eyes focused and she quickly realized she was back in the house she shared with Gajeel and Rogue and it was Rogue who was currently the one bringing her back to the world of the living.

"Rogue? How'd I get here? Where's your father?" Pulling herself up to a sitting position on the couch she stretched and waited for Rogue's reply.

"Ah, Pops went to Magnolia precinct, you were out cold so he called me and stopped by here to drop you off. You've been asleep," He glanced over at the clock on the wall, "just over two hours now."

"Is that where Gajeel is?" Quickly realizing her error, she tried to say something else before Rogue shook his head and sat down beside her.

"I already know what happened so it's fine. Actually, Gajeel called me first to get Pops' phone number but I made him tell me what he had managed to get himself into before I gave it to him. The dumbass."

Levy slowly nodded her head in understanding. She stared off at nothing in particular before she looked over at the front door hoping for something she wasn't sure what.

"I doubt Pops comes back tonight and if you were wondering, he wasn't planning on taking you there anyway. To see him I mean."

Levy turned back to Rogue, her lips parted to speak but Rogue interrupted her before she was able to form a syllable.

"He doesn't want you to see Gajeel like that and… I'm not sure I would want you to see him like that either. So, just stay here for now, this is your home after all."

Rogue stood up from the couch and smiled down at the bluenette. Levy wiped a tear from the corner of her eye and watched as he strolled over to the kitchen.

"I'm gonna make something to eat, ya hungry?"

She smiled and shook her head, "No, thank you. I think I'm going to head off to bed actually. I'll see you in the morning. Goodnight."

He wished her a goodnight and before she made it halfway up the stairs she stopped and turned her head slightly, "Thank you, Rogue." She didn't wait for a reply, only continued on up the stairs and down the hall. For a brief moment she stood just outside the door to the bedroom she shared with Gajeel.

Taking a deep breath, she turned the handle and pushed open the door, somewhere deep inside her she had hoped the large, usually grumpy pierced man would be inside but she knew better. She shut the door behind her and looked about the room.

It was messier than the last time she had been in here but then again she doubted Gajeel had the notion to keep it clean if he thought she wasn't coming back. The only thing that did look maintained was where her belongings still sat, along with her fish. Movement on the bed startled her and she smiled when Lily stood and stretched.

Shrugging off her clothes and grabbing one of his shirts that was hanging over the chair she inhaled his scent then pulled it over her head and settled it on her slender body. Lily waited patiently for her to crawl under the covers and then he cuddled up beside her. Wrapping her arms around the black cat she finally allowed herself to free the tears she had been fighting back since early that morning.

She cried into Lily's fur and he merely purred in response to her, soon she had cried herself to sleep, her last thoughts before she drifted off were of Gajeel waking next to her.

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 **There's not really much left to this story to be honest, I'm not sure how many more chapters but the light is now being seen at the end of the tunnel! Please leave a review, I really appreciate them! Love you guys!**


	20. Chapter 20

**Oh hi. I updated! If you follow my tumblr, you'll know I've been going through a real rough patch but I am actively working on my multis! I hope you enjoy this chapter.**

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An officer escorted Gajeel into a small room, the large mirror against the side wall clued him into the fact it was for interrogations. Taking a deep breath in through his nose he quickly regretted it as the scent of stale tobacco and body odor invaded his nostrils, the stench caused his stomach to roll as he leaned back in the chair and stared upwards at the ceiling.

The door in front of him unlocked and slowly opened as another police officer appeared in the doorway, "Your lawyer is here."

Skiadrum stepped inside the room and mumbled a thank you to the officers as one of them shut the metal door behind him locking the two of them inside. Gajeel rested the front two legs of the chair back on the ground as he watched his step-father walk around the table to where he was sitting. Skiadrum's expression had Gajeel sitting up straight when the man was suddenly standing beside him and before the brute could realize what was going on his step-father had smacked the side of his head.

"What the hell kind of lawyer smacks his client?" Gajeel bellowed as he rubbed at the spot Skiadrum had just made contact with.

"I didn't have my lawyer hat on yet, I had my pissed off dad hat on and I still do for that matter. What in the hell have you managed to get yourself into? Still chasing after your old man even when you've got a pretty damn good life going for ya, eh?"

Skiadrum walked back around to the opposite side of the table, pulled out the provided chair and sat down. Plopping his bag like briefcase onto the table he opened it up, pulling a few papers out as well as a pack of smokes and a lighter and then sat it back on the floor beside the chair.

Gajeel lifted an eyebrow, "Since when do you smoke old man?"

Skiadrum pinched the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes with a huff of a breath, "Since I have a dumbass for a son. Alright enough about that, time for the lawyer hat. Let's get serious here."

Gajeel was met with his serious gaze and sat up properly, pushing his chair in and resting his arms on the table. He glanced down at the papers in front of him but the lack of sleep and small font size made it difficult to read them as they lay facing away from his line of sight. Skiadrum lit up a smoke and offered the pack across the table; Gajeel merely shook his head in response. A vent turned on from somewhere overhead in the room and the sound blasted through the silence of his step-father's long drags on the cigarette currently between his lips.

"So," Skiadrum started, "you're in one hell of a mess, but, if we work in the favors of the court and the police I have no reason to doubt it could easily help your case and that's exactly what our plan of attack will be."

"What do you mean by working in their favors?"

Removing the cigarette from his mouth he placed his hands on the table in front of him and leaned over, red eyes glaring into red eyes, Skiadrum looked absolutely terrifying and Gajeel gulped. Never before had his step-father looked so menacing.

"You will tell them _everything_ they want to know, plus information they didn't even know that they needed to know. You are more than aware how this group works and anything you're knowledgeable about you will divulge. Details of events, places, people's names, organizations, plans, you name it, think it, know it you will disclose it. Tell all."

Gajeel snickered and sat back, "So basically you're telling me to hand Jose my head on a silver platter? Great idea ya got there!"

"I'd love to hear what your idea is then. Listen, we're not going into this not knowing the risks involved, let me worry about those you just focus on keeping your head up and cooperating with the court officials. Plus, with all of your information you won't need to worry about handing Jose your head on a silver platter because you'll pretty much be handing his over to the police yourself. We'll put you in hiding for a little while until the dust settles."

Gajeel stared off at the floor, lost in his thoughts, but the only thing that kept pushing to the front of his mind was _her._ He hadn't seen her since that day at Laxus' and everything around somehow managed to remind him of her. His bedroom, their bedroom, was the worst, he had been too scared to move her things, let alone touch them in fear they would crumble between his fingers. He had lost her and he'd go the rest of his life living with that loss.

"She's home."

Gajeel looked up, eyes wide in bewilderment, he opened his mouth to say something but the words didn't come, his inner thoughts were screaming back at him that she was at home. Their home? Could he be so lucky? Skiadrum knew where Gajeel's thoughts were, it didn't take a genius to know that look in someone's eyes.

"She's back at your place and she's waiting for you. For some stupid reason, she is waiting for _you_. That girl loves you, son. Get this shit pile of a mess taken care of and take on the rest of your life making it up to her, making her happy, loving her back with all that you have, because who knows why but she only has eyes for you."

"She's crazy," He laughed to himself and smiled, glancing at the clock on the wall he noticed it wasn't quite 9 in the morning and he instantly thought about the grumpy attitude she was known for in the mornings, "I don't want to see her."

Skiadrum looked up from the papers he was reading over wide eyed, "You don't want to see her? What the hell are you talking about?"

He finished the cigarette he had been working on and squished it into the ashtray Gajeel had slid in front of him.

"It's not that I really don't want to see her, it's more I can't. Not like this. I don't want her to have any memory of me like this. She already has one hell of a terrible memory from the night this all started, I can't see her until this has all passed. Which reminds me, a few of _them_ know about her and probably wouldn't hesitate to hurt her. It's best she just stays clear of me, for now. "

His step-father sighed and shook his head, "You do realize that could be months down the road don't you? What do you intend her to do? Am I right to assume you don't even want her at the court hearings?"

"If she does wait on me, I'll return to her and spend the rest of my life loving her like she could never even imagine and if she chooses moves on, I'll let her go. And you'd be correct, don't even tell her when they are, nor Rogue, the kid has a mouth bigger than his ego."

"You're the crazy one," Skiadrum stood from the table and pushed a button on the wall beside the door, "We're done in here."

Releasing the button he walked back over to the table and began gathering the loose papers into a pile and placing them back inside his briefcase. He watched as Gajeel stood from the chair and noticed the shackles linking his ankles.

Picking up on where his step-father's eyes were looking Gajeel huffed, "They take the cuffs off my hands when I come in here but leave these damned things on, for shit's sake door is locked anyway where the hell do they think I can go?"

"Just behave. I'll be back tomorrow. Oh and I'll make sure our little bluebird is taken care of and well protected."

The door unlocked and swung open, an officer stepped in to hold the door while another walked into the room and proceeded towards Gajeel with a pair of handcuffs. Stretching out his arms the officer secured the metal rings around his wrists and began to escort him out of the room.

"See ya, Pops." He said with an accompanied smirk.

Skiadrum replied with a half-smile and a nod as Gajeel walked past him and out of the room, he followed suit just moments after, the second police officer escorted him back out to the main lobby. After signing his name on the visitor log he took his exit, the sun hit him like a force and he pulled his sunglasses out of his suit pocket and slipped them on before walking off in the direction of his car.

…

Levy was relaxing on the couch with Lily curled up in her lap and her nose in a book when the sound of knocking came from the front door. She waited a brief moment to see if Rogue was nearby and able to grab it but when that moment passed she placed the book down and began to sit up, Lily stretched and jumped to the floor, scampering away towards the kitchen and his food bowl as Levy strolled over to the door. Peeking through the peep hole she smiled and quickly unlocked the deadbolt, opening the door wide and allowing Skiadrum entrance into the house.

"Hello Levy, how are you?"

Levy shut the door behind him, "I'm alright, how are you? Would you like anything to drink?"

He shook his head at her offer and took a seat on the couch in the living room, "I've just come from seeing Gajeel. He's doing about as good as he can be considering his circumstances."

Levy sat near the end of the couch and turned her body towards the man beside her, "I'm happy to hear he's doing well, considering."

"We have a solid plan in place that I am confident will work in our favor towards keeping him out of prison, he may still have to serve some jail time but that's a hell of a lot better than being in prison and having a Redfox reunion in Crocus."

Levy smiled, "That's wonderful. I hope it does indeed work," moving her eyes toward the floor she pondered whether or not she should ask the question on her tongue, throwing caution to the wind she took a deep breath and spoke again, not meeting Skiadrum's gaze, "Did...did he ask about me?"

"He did." The man answered calmly.

Looking up Levy was met with a warm smile, her own lips turned up in return, but his smile soon vanished and her gut twisted as her own smile slowly disappeared.

"He misses you, a lot. He also loves and treasures you dearly and because of this he has informed he can't allow you to see him until this is all said and done."

Levy's mouth opened in shock, tears welled up in her eyes and she quickly wiped them away, "Wha-what's that supposed to mean? He doesn't want to see me, why?"

Skiadrum reached for the box of tissues sitting behind him on the side table and handed them to the young woman, "He loves you, Levy. Because of that he doesn't want you seeing him in this state, his exact words were you already have a bad memory of him from the night this all started, he doesn't want to add to those memories. He also said that if you choose to move on he will let you go."

"He's stupid! He's a stupid, crazy, insane fool!" Levy yelled, calming her voice she continued, "Of course I'll wait for him, he's all I want, all I ever wanted."

Skiadrum laughed and lifted himself from the couch, "You two were meant for each other that's for sure. Anyway, hang in there hun, I'll get his ass back home to you as soon as I can. I promise."

"I'll hold you to that," she said while sniffling.

Levy stood from the couch and hugged the man standing in front of her. Rogue had managed to sneak down the stairs just as the hug was coming to a close and waved goodbye to his father as Levy ushered him to the door, shutting and locking the deadbolt back in place after his exit.

"He'll be fine, will you?"

Levy turned around to face the owner of the voice that had come up behind her, "I will, I have to be; not only for myself but for him as well. I plan on waiting for him; he's so stupid to think I would actually move on, I'm not giving up on that big jerk."

Rogue smiled and wrapped Levy in a tight hug, "You're far too good for him, but he's a lucky guy to have you and I'm glad he does, you might be the only one to actually make him stand firm again."

Returning the hug in an equally strong embrace she smiled before pushing him away from her and spinning him around, "Go take a shower and do whatever it is you need to do, I'm going to make us breakfast."

Rogue laughed and strolled off towards the upstairs bathroom, hearing the sounds of Levy in the kitchen slowly diminish as he ascended the steps.

The one major thing Gajeel had kept on was the amount of food kept in the house, real and fresh food at that. Rogue was still in the "if it can't be microwaved, I'm not eating" stage so she knew he hadn't been the one to stock the pantry and fridge. Finally deciding on pancakes, eggs and sausage she pulled out all the ingredients and started preparing their morning meal.

She could hear the water running upstairs and knew she was safe to give into her thoughts and daydream for a few moments as she prepped breakfast. She could understand why Gajeel _may_ not want to see her, but to actually flat out say he couldn't allow himself hit her hard, all Levy wanted to do was help him, couldn't he see that?

…

Three months. Three long months had come and gone. The weather had gotten even warmer by this time in the year, which meant the humidity would have increased as well. Gajeel smiled as he thought about Levy and her unruly hair being attacked by Magnolia's high humidity. He always loved her hair in its wild and untamed state, she would spent minutes, even hours trying to tame the blue beast in front of the mirror only for him to watch in awe and marvel at just how beautiful she didn't even realize she was.

He hadn't seen let alone heard from Levy since he landed himself in this cell, but he had no one to blame for that but himself. He'd been adamant about her not seeing him like this and allowing her the chance to move on. Sitting on the small bed with his head against the wall he closed his eyes and wondered how she was doing, what she was doing this very moment and if he ever crossed her mind. Was she at home? Had she moved out? He wanted to know, but he never asked and Skiadrum never told him. Levy's name hadn't even been mentioned in these past three months.

The sound of voices pulled him from his daydream and he sat up on the uncomfortable excuse for a bed, dropping his legs to the floor and resting his arms on his knees he waited, listening as the voices came closer, he knew those voices. The same second shift officer that was always here on Thursdays and his step-father whose last visit was just over a week ago.

"This had better be good," he mumbled to himself as the voices stopped and two figures stood opposite the bars.

…

"Your hair's getting longer, I like it."

Levy hadn't even heard her friend's compliment as she sat pushing the blueberry around on her plate. She and Lucy were currently enjoying dessert at a quiet little outdoor cafe in downtown Crocus. Lucy had bought a one way ticket for her two and half weeks ago to help get her best friend out of her funk and things had been going well, except for the occasional space outs.

"Levy? Hello, Earthland to Levy?" Lucy waved her hand in front of Levy's face, her bangles swinging with the movement of her wrist.

"Huh? Oh. Yeah this tastes really good!" Levy's head shot up and she smiled as she looked across the table at her friend.

Lucy sighed and shook her head, "I had complimented your hair, silly. Thinking about him again?"

Levy dropped her fork and twirled a finger around a long lock, biting her lip and mouthing an apology, "How can I not? I miss him. I've not heard anything about him, I told Skiadrum I was coming here and he said to go and have fun, and I have been having fun don't get me wrong, but I… I miss him Lucy."

Lucy scooped up another spoonful of her parfait and after plopping the yogurt treat into her mouth she set her spoon back down and gingerly took Levy's hands in her own.

Levy fought back the tears, she stared down at the single blueberry on her plate knowing that if she met eyes with the blonde sitting across from her again the fight would be in vain and she'd lose the battle with her emotions. Biting her lip she willed the wet drops to not escape from her eyes.

The sound of her phone vibrating and the chime that accompanied a text message had her eyes darting to the illuminated screen beside her and when the contact name "Skiadrum" blinked back at her, she pulled a hand from Lucy's grasp and swiped her finger across the screen to open the message.

A smile spread across her face as she stared down at the text, "I think it's about time for that return ticket to Magnolia."

 _"_ _Wednesday, 2:30pm."_

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 **Like? Love? Hate? Please let me know what you think, I really try hard to respond to all my reviews! Thanks again for hanging in there and I hope you've liked this chapter, this fic is very close to coming to an end.  
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	21. Chapter 21

**Oh hi! Here's a long over due update! Enjoy!**

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"Levy are you sure you really want to do this?"

Levy peeked out from the closet with a small smile on her face. She knew her friends were worried about her decision to attend Gajeel's court hearing, but she had to more than anything see Gajeel with her own eyes. Her heart ached for him. She had already promised herself no matter what she saw or heard at the hearing her feelings wouldn't change, she knew Gajeel didn't get involved that deep because he actually wanted to, he had been doing what he thought was the right thing, no matter how wrongly he was going about doing it.

"Mira, I'll be fine. I want to do this; I want to see him. I'll go in after the majority of the crowd has entered and sit near the back, he'll never know I'm there. Skiadrum promised Gajeel he wouldn't tell me when the hearing was, so I need to be careful and respect the fact he is breaking his promise as a father."

Mira shuffled forward, a frown on her face and loosely folded her arms across her chest, "I'm just worried for you. We all love and support Gajeel, no matter what but what if you hear something at that hearing that will change how you feel? Maybe Laxus should go with you?"

Finally finding her white blouse and simple black dress pants she shut the closet door and tossed them to the bed she then kneeled down and started fishing out her black flats from under the bed.

"Nothing I could possibly hear will change my feelings, I love him, good, bad and ugly; all of him. We had one hell of a rough start at this relationship, I'm not going to let it end like this."

Mira sighed and picked up the mate to the black flat Levy was searching for, handing it over to the petite woman she smiled. She loved Laxus with all her heart and soul but she wasn't sure she'd ever be able to place herself in the same situation Levy was currently in and be able to be as calm and collected as the blue haired woman.

Gajeel probably didn't even realize how lucky he was to have her waiting at home for him, then again Gajeel was no fool he most likely thanked the higher power every night to have been blessed with her. She remembered a time Laxus had told her about when the guys had been drinking and Gajeel drunk dialed his brother just to thank him for hooking up with Levy, she silently giggled at just trying to imagine that scenario. Laxus hadn't been able to share the details in between his fits of laughter.

"I'm sorry Levy," Levy stopped and looked at the platinum blonde standing in her and Gajeel's room, confusion marring her face. "You are an incredibly strong, dedicated, and loyal girlfriend to Gajeel. I'd like to think I would feel and do the same as you are right now if I were in your situation."

Levy smiled, "Well let's hope you never are, I don't want anyone to have to go through what Gajeel and I have. But, thank you Mira, your words mean a lot to me."

With tears in her eyes, Levy broke the distance between the two of them and hugged Mira. The two women stood together for a few moments in a tearful embrace before Mira pulled away and smiled down at Levy.

"I still think you should have Laxus go with you."

Sniffling, Levy nodded her head and wiped away the tears under her eyes, "I think that might be a good idea. Do you think he would mind?"

Mira's smile grew and she shook her head, "Not at all darling, he wouldn't mind at all. I'll talk to him today when he gets home from work. It's tomorrow, right?"

"Yeah, at 2:30."

Downstairs the front door opened and closed, walking over to the threshold of the bedroom door Levy yelled down the stairs, "Rogue? Is that you?"

"Yeah! I brought home pizza! I didn't know someone else was here though or I would have bought a bigger one," Rogue made his way up the steps, and stood outside the door, "Oh, it's just Mira. Well she doesn't eat pizza anyway, more for us! Hey Mira!" Rogue waved as he walked away.

Mira laughed, "Hello Rogue! And just so you know I eat pizza sometimes! Anyway, I must be going. I will talk to Laxus tonight and he'll meet you here tomorrow before you leave."

"Thank you, Mira."

"Anytime my dear, anytime." Mira grabbed her purse and with another smile directed at Levy made her way out of the room and down the stairs.

Walking over to the bed Levy allowed herself to fall forward, the comforter, satin sheets, and a stray pillow catching her fall. Her eyes clued in on a picture of her and Gajeel on the dresser across from her. It had been taken the day before her graduation, the night before her world became topsy turvy. Her parents had always wanted to see her succeed, have a career full of growth opportunities, find a nice man, settle down, and start a family. She wondered if they'd be proud of the woman she was today, she felt successful in her own right, she didn't regret where she was today, even if her life wasn't the shade of perfection her parents had always hoped for her.

The photo was purely candid, Levy's favorite type of picture. Staged pictures always turned out looking fake. In the photograph, Levy had been standing at the counter and Gajeel had managed to sneak up behind her and was nuzzling her neck. Levy was wearing the biggest smile she had ever seen spread across her own face and had her arms draped over the large arms that were wrapped around her. The love she shared with Gajeel was definitely a different one, but one she wouldn't trade for anything.

"Levy? I'm gonna eat your share of the pizza if you don't get down here!"

Pushing herself up from the bed she slowly walked over to the picture and picked it up, smiling she traced a single finger down the photo and felt her heart warm at the thought of being able to see this man tomorrow, setting the photo back on the dresser she turned to walk out of the bedroom.

"I'm coming! Don't you dare eat my pizza!"

…

Gajeel was pacing the room, his step-father had dropped off a suit for him earlier that morning but then he had left again. The same police officer that he saw on a daily basis has escorted Gajeel to one of the rooms that allowed a bit more privacy, this room had its own shower and changing area for the men in holding to be able to get ready prior to a court hearing. Now he was currently waiting for Skiadrum in the attached interrogation room. It wasn't like the man to be running late but he had said he'd be back before two, and it was just now two on the dot.

He hadn't been stuck wearing a suit since Levy's graduation, which then just brought his thoughts back to the little woman of his. Oh how he missed her and what he wouldn't give to just see her and smell her intoxicating scent, hell he'd even take one of her overblown and drawn out angry lectures at this point. He just wanted her, here and now. If she planned on being true to her word and would be there when this was all over and done with and he was back in her arms again he'd go the rest of his life making sure a smile never left her face.

The sound of the door unlocking pulled him from his daze and in walked his step-father sporting a smug look on his face.

"Yer late old man."

The smug look turned to a scowl as he approached Gajeel and reached out to adjust his tie, "Shut it, I'm no such thing. You should be thanking me, I just left a meeting with the county prosecutor. How the hell did you even manage to do this to your tie? Geez boy, didn't anyone ever teach you how to tie a tie?"

Gajeel grumbled while rolling his eyes and didn't feel the need to remind the man that he had been the one to teach him but Skiadrum had failed to mention he also didn't know how and Gajeel's mother had always been the one to fix his tie.

"So what's the verdict?"

"Well I'm not the judge so I can't deliver the verdict, but the prosecutor seemed very happy with the recent information and has dropped the majority of the felony charges as well as numerous other charges. If I'd have to guess, you'll probably get two or three years with time served going towards your sentence."

Gajeel nodded in agreement, he didn't want to get too excited but a verdict like that he could live with, he had provided more than enough information to help shut down the ring and bring down Jose, he only hoped they had put his information to good use.

Skiadrum glanced down at his cell phone and smirked, a gesture that did not go unnoticed by his step-son, but he chose to ignore it, he had more pressing issues on his mind at the moment and if his step-father lawyer felt confident enough to allow his phone to distract him then he figured he could at least relax a little.

The door unlocked once again and an officer stepped in to usher Gajeel to the patrol car that would take him to the court house. They walked down a long hallway that directed them to a separate car port at the back of the station. Since Gajeel was leaving the station the handcuff protocol had to be enforced and once secured the officer assisted him as he got into the backseat of the patrol car.

The butterflies were going insane in Gajeel's stomach despite his earlier calmness and as they got closer to the court house he began to feel nauseous. Skiadrum had seemed in high spirits and was positive this was going to go in as much as Gajeel's favor as it could without exactly allowing him to walk away totally clean, but his head just couldn't wrap around that idea and worst case scenarios were playing out vividly with the help of his imagination.

The officer occupying the driver's seat broke the silence, "Deep breaths. In through your nose, out through your mouth."

"Does that shit seriously even work or is that what ya say to everyone in the back seat of your car?" He hadn't meant to sound like an asshole but he didn't have full control of his emotions at the moment and sadly that included what left his mouth.

The police officer just laughed, "Well it sure as hell can't hurt you. But really, calm down, I've got a good feeling about your case. You heard the latest news right?"

"Not sure if you've ever been on my side of all this but there ain't exactly TV's in the cells, so no I have not." He really needed to watch his tongue before this cop got fed up with him.

"Porla was arrested," the officer smirked at the expression Gajeel had on his face, "Thanks to your information he was apprehended late last night at one of the warehouses you disclosed. I'm not usually a betting man, but I'd be willing to make a bet you'll come out of this as close to clean as you can get from all the information you gave up."

For the first time since he had been arrested Gajeel allowed a genuine smile to cross his face. He was pleased he had been able to help with the arrest of that slimy bastard. Now he just needed to hear his verdict, serve his time and go home to his shorty.

The car came to a stop and Gajeel leaned forward to glance out the window, the large City of Magnolia Courthouse was staring back at him, he gulped then took a deep breath in through his nose and slowly let it out through his mouth. His door opened and with the assistance of the officer he stepped out of the patrol car and walked up the path to the building.

Once inside he kept his head down and allowed the officer to guide him towards the hearing room. Just outside the door where those who were incarcerated would enter the hearing room the officer clapped him on the back and wished him good luck, telling him the bailiff would escort him the rest of the way.

The bailiff was a good foot or so shorter than Gajeel and he looked scared out of his wits, Gajeel almost wanted to laugh at the poor man but knowing that was probably not in his best interest he abstained from doing so. He figured the poor guy was probably thinking something along the lines of how the hell did he end up with this detainee.

Walking in the door he saw his step-father sitting at a table facing the judge's stand, he glanced out into the open seating area but wasn't able to see anyone in particular, the room was still fairly empty anyway.

When the bailiff stopped suddenly and turned around it took a large amount of effort not to crash into him, he reached into his pocket and pulled a key out and unlocked the handcuffs secured around Gajeel's wrists.

"Good behavior allows you to be free of the handcuffs during the hearing, just don't try anything."

"In the room with the one person determining my fate? I'll be an angel." Gajeel hoped the man had a sense of humor.

"Just go take a seat next to your lawyer."

The man clearly did not.

"How was the drive over?" Skiadrum smirked.

Gajeel glared back at the man and rolled his eyes. Briefly turning around to scope out his audience he saw the place had filled up rather quickly, just as the bailiff was announcing for everyone to stand as the judge made his appearance he thought he caught a glance of blue hair near the back row but was unable to make certain if his eyes were playing tricks on him when Skiadrum kicked him from under the table silently telling him to stand up and turn back around. He wouldn't be able to confirm anything until this was all over as now he had to sit forward and face his fate.

"Gajeel Redfox, how do you plead?"

Gajeel stood and cleared his throat, "Guilty."

Skiadrum winked at him and spoke, "We entered into a deal with the prosecutor, your honor."

"I am aware of this deal and I must give credit where credit is due. Mr. Redfox, you allowed the Magnolia police department to do quite a bit of cleaning up. Your information lead to the arrest of Jose Porla and over twenty other individuals as well as the confiscation of an extremely large number of drugs. This has all been taken into consideration when decided the outcome of your sentencing."

Taking a deep breath and releasing it slowly Gajeel waited for the judge's decision.

…

The butterflies in Levy's stomach were going crazy, her breathing was erratic and it took a large amount of effort to keep herself from screaming at the top of her lungs. Laxus had one of her hands in his and with the other he was gently caressing the top of her hand, trying to help the woman remain calm or from doing something stupid. He was afraid if he let her go she'd bolt towards the front of the room and throw herself at Gajeel and that was the last thing they needed right now.

"Why is he taking so long to read the verdict?"

Laxus hushed her and quietly whispered in her ear, "He has to read off his charges first, Gajeel may have already pleaded guilty but he still has to list the charges."

Levy squirmed in her chair, she didn't have the best view of Gajeel from where they were seated near the back but she could just barely see his face and the man looked broken. She wanted nothing more than to take him into her arms and tell him everything was going to be okay. He was close and yet so far.

"I don't think this was a good idea," she mumbled.

"Chin up, if not for you, for him." Laxus smiled at her.

"Gajeel Redfox," the judge started, "I sentence you to three years in jail with your time already served going towards your overall duration. Upon release you'll have one year of probationary duties. With the information you provided I have lowered your felony charges to misdemeanors and for good behavior I will also allow you twenty-four hours from the release of this court session to handle any outside affairs you may have, but you are not permitted to leave Magnolia. I have been assured by your lawyer and the officer who was assigned to you in the jail that you would continue to behave don't make me regret this decision or make fools of those vouching on your behalf."

"Yes, your honor, thank you."

It was the first time Levy had heard his voice and just from those few words she thought her heart was going to burst from her chest. The sentencing was just and fair and even though three years was still a long time it was nothing compared to what could have been.

"This court is now adjourned."

Levy stood with the various other people attending and did her best to blend in with the aid from Laxus. As the exit became crowded she chanced a look back at the front of the room and through a blur of people there was a straight shot to Gajeel, red eyes meeting with hazel and in that moment no one else was there, only the two of them. Levy's lips turned upward in a smile as tears streamed down her face. Gajeel made a motion to go to her but was held back by his step-father trying to tell him something and with that brief distraction Laxus guided her out of the room.

…

Once inside the car with his step-father Gajeel let out a long breath and gazed out the window, "I saw her. You told her about today didn't you?"

Starting the car and pulling out into the street Skiadrum replied, "Yeah, I did. I'm not sorry either."

The rest of the car ride was made in silence. As he watched Magnolia pass by through the window he thought back to how her face had lit up when she had seen him, that despite the reasons for him being in that place she still looked happy that their eyes had met and at how incredibly beautiful she was, it had been nearly half a year since he had seen her last and his memories really didn't do her justice.

Gajeel was still daydreaming when he realized the car was stopped on the curb outside his house, he turned to face his step-father, confused as to why he had brought him here. "I thought I was going back to the hotel with you?"

"You're a dumbass. Get out of the car."

"What's going on?"

"I'll pick you up tomorrow at two, be ready. Go be with her."

Gajeel turned back to the window, looking out at his house, his car was parked in the driveway but Rogue's was gone. She was alone in his house, their house. She was back home.

Without another word uttered between the two men he got out of the car and slowly walked to the front door, he didn't have his keys, actually he didn't have anything, he was still wearing the suit Skiadrum had brought him earlier that day. He silently prayed she had left the door unlocked, and with all the courage he could muster he gripped the handle and opened the door.

Levy was standing just inside waiting for him.

* * *

 **So this fic has maybe 2-3 chapters left, and the next update will not take as long as this one did seeing as I'm nearly halfway through it at the moment! Anyway, let me know what you think! Reviews are much appreciated!**


	22. Chapter 22

**This chapter contains lemons.**

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"Levy."

He'd said her name a thousand and more times but this time, as those two syllables rolled off of his tongue it almost felt foreign. He couldn't move, his legs wouldn't listen to him and he wasn't sure how long he had been standing there but when Levy finally stepped forward his breath caught and his body stood even more frozen.

Levy smiled and slowly reached out her hands to grasp his, "Gajeel. It's okay, just breathe."

Gajeel's mouth opened and closed before he finally spoke, "You're here, you're home… I'm home..." his eyes darted to the floor and he mumbled, "only for tonight though." His eyes shot back up to meet hers, "Are you only here for tonight?"

Levy shook her head, still smiling at him, "I'm home, Gajeel."

No longer was Gajeel frozen after hearing those words leave her mouth, Levy didn't have the chance to properly react and squeaked as Gajeel scooped her up into his arms and crashed his lips against hers. They clung to each other as if their lives depended on it, the kiss was fierce, messy, and coated in well overdue passion.

As much as it pained Gajeel to do so he pulled away from the woman in his arms, there were still a few things he needed to know. "Why were you there today? I told you not to come."

"Skiadrum told me when it was, please don't be upset with him. I had to see you Gajeel, I hadn't intended for you to know I was there."

Gajeel closed his eyes and nuzzled into Levy's neck, "I hadn't wanted ya to see me like that, and thankfully today's hearing went well but if it hadn't, I didn't want ya to have to deal with that either."

Levy placed her hands on either side of Gajeel's face, gazing into his red eyes she smiled and kissed his lips softly, "I'm a lot stronger than you think Gajeel Redfox. I'm not going anywhere regardless of the circumstances, what do I have to do to get that through to you?"

"I just don't want ya to feel trapped, Levy. Mavis knows I love ya more than life itself and I don't wanna lose ya but I also don't want ya to feel obligated to be with me."

Levy sighed as she wrapped her arms around him, securing Gajeel in a tight embrace and allowing herself to finally break down while soaking Gajeel's shoulder with her tears. She loved this man, was it so hard for him to understand that? She felt Gajeel's arms wrap around her, one gently rubbing her back while the other pulled her closer. How wonderful it felt to be in his arms again, the feeling of being engulfed by him, his strong, muscled arms holding her slender body tight against his.

"I love you Gajeel and I've missed you so, so much."

Gajeel grunted in reply as he walked the two of them towards their bedroom. Stepping into the room he inhaled deeply, the room smelled of Levy; lavender, vanilla, and the soft undertones of old paper. He could she had been here for a good length of time; her presence being noticeable in every aspect. The walls were decorated with new framed photographs, one of those being Levy's University diploma and beside that her degree. Seeing both of those on the wall made him swell with pride.

Gently placing her amongst the rumpled blankets on the bed he immediately removed his suit jacket, discarding it in the corner of the room and then began working at his tie. He watched as Levy shuffled across the sheets towards him, sitting up on her knees in front of the larger man.

His body instantly reacted as he felt her pull at the dress shirt, untucking it from his trousers only for her to begin unbuttoning the article of clothing from the bottom up. Finally released from the confines of his black and red tie he tossed it to the floor. As Levy worked her way up his chest tantalizingly slowly unbuttoning each button, he stared deep into her warm brown eyes with a hunger that was equally reciprocated back at him.

As the last button came undone Levy pushed the shirt off just as Gajeel captured her lips in a searing kiss, swallowing her moan he ghosted his hands under her shirt and slowly drew it up her body, releasing his lips from hers only to pull the offending article of clothing over her head. After tossing it next to his suit jacket and reclaiming possession of her lips he laid her back against the mattress, body encompassing hers.

Six months' worth of frustration, longing, lust, and love were shared between the two as their kisses grew more fervent. Growling against her lips Gajeel felt her hands run up and down his chest, feeling every inch of muscle before they glided towards to his back, pulling him down and tracing over his skin. His own hands roamed over her stomach and ample hips before slipping off her pants.

Standing straight Gajeel eyed Levy's body spread out on the bed clad only in a pair of green lace undies and matching bra, he smirked as she pushed herself from the sheets and crawled towards him. His eyes never left hers as he felt his belt be undone and the weight of his trousers fall from his hips. With a single hand he reached behind his girlfriend and undid the clasp to her bra, his smirk grew as he watched the garment fall, exposing her breasts.

He couldn't wait one more second.

Pulling off his boxer briefs he gently pushed Levy back down onto the sheets, hovering over her body he lowered himself and hooked a finger in the band on either side of her panties, pulling them down her creamy, soft legs. Once they were completely removed he leaned back down, starting a trail of kisses up her body starting at her pubis.

The sound of her heavy breathing and soft moans was music to Gajeel's ears. As he approached her chest, he stole a glance at the woman beneath him, her mouth was open, eyes closed and arms stretched above her with hands gripping at the sheets. She was beautiful and she was his and his alone.

One hand trailed down her body to settle between her legs, when it cupped around her womanhood Levy's breathing hitched. Sliding a finger between her already damp lips he began teasing her, rubbing back and forth before delving into her slit. Pumping the single digit in and out as he watched her face contorted in pleasure, his lips sealed over her perky nipple as he slid a second finger inside and the room quickly filled with more of her moans of approval.

With the addition of a third finger Gajeel switched his attention to the opposite breast, Levy's hand sifted through his black locks eliciting a deep moan from the man. When he felt she was stretched enough, slowly he removed his fingers, grabbed the head of his cock and lined himself up with her core. As he pushed himself inside her, growling against Levy's neck, one of his hands sought out hers, intertwining their fingers together.

"I love you, Levy," he felt her body shudder from the warmth of his breath against her neck.

"I love you too, Gajeel."

Positioning her legs around his waist allowed for him to push deeper into her core, hitting a spot deep inside that had Levy gasping for air with each of his thrusts. Her hips rocked against him and the feeling was intense, surreal even, it had been far too long since he had felt her like this, her warmth all consuming, enveloping him, neither of them were sure where one of them ended and the other began.

"Lev…" His original rhythm gone, now he was mindlessly pumping in and out, her moans pushing him further from reality and closer to release.

He felt her walls squeezing at his cock, he could tell she was close. Drawing himself nearly out of her warmth he slammed back into her, the screams of his name bouncing off the walls spurred him on, over and over again until he felt her body quake and her inner walls clamp down, one last thrust and he followed her into oblivion.

Rolling over to the side he slid out of the warmth that was all Levy, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her close. Her eyes were closed and a serene smile was on her face, Gajeel loved her afterglow, she never looked more beautiful. One hand was rubbing her back and with the other he gently tucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear when her eyes opened.

"Lev, yer beautiful and I sure as hell don't deserve ya but I plan on making sure yer the happiest woman alive for the rest of my life."

Gajeel's heart skipped a beat as she flashed him a smile and moved to kiss his lips. Closing his eyes, he reveled in her touch as she stroked the side of his face, then pulled him closer and kissed him again.

"Just promise me you'll never leave me again after this," she whispered.

"I promise. Fuck, do I ever promise. I'll never leave yer side," rolling back over to hover above her once again he smiled down at her, "I also don't plan on lettin' you sleep tonight."

…

When Levy awoke the next day she felt a sense of warmth she hadn't felt in a long time. Her body was wrapped in the arms of her boyfriend who was currently snoring beside her. Most of the night had been spent in various positions of pure bliss and ecstasy and somewhere around four am when Gajeel had taken the brief opportunity to set an alarm on his phone had they finally succumbed to sleep.

Rolling over to face the sleeping man beside her she smiled. She loved watching him sleep, his face relaxed and at peace, his usual scowl absent until he woke up again. Tentatively, she reached out her hand and gently stroked the side of his face, a few strands of his black hair laid across the bridge of his nose, pushing them back she didn't notice his eyes watching her every move. Leaning forward she placed a kiss to his chest and upon doing so his arm that was wrapped around her tightened and pulled her closer.

"What happened to my little spit fire in the morning?" The deep rumble of his voice sent a shiver through her body.

"I'm not always grumpy, especially not when we have so little time together," she replied sleepily.

Rolling over she placed her upper body on Gajeel's chest and rested her chin on her hands. Gajeel smiled up at her lifting his hand to casually play with a blue lock of hair.

"When do you have to leave?" There was an apparent sadness to her voice.

"Old man said he'd be here 'round two I think."

The hand playing with her hair moved to frame the side of her face as his other hand wrapped around her back, pulling her closer. She allowed him to bring her closer, inching ever closer to meeting with his lips once again. Levy felt his hands moving up and down her naked body, there was a fire raging inside her and she knew she needed to feel him, all of him, once more.

As she repositioned herself astride him and raked her hands down his chest Gajeel groaned. She watched as his eyes dragged up and down her torso, lingering at her breasts as he wetted his lips. With one hand on Gajeel she braced herself and with the other she reached for Gajeel's length guiding him to her sex and as the head of his shaft pushed through she heard him hiss and ever so slowly she lowered herself until he was fully seated within her.

Levy shuddered as Gajeel's large hands explored her torso before gripping at her hips with an appreciative groan. As she began to set her rhythm Gajeel bucked his own hips in reply to hers. Levy got a thrill watching the undoing of her boyfriend, his grunts and moans had her climbing that mountain even faster knowing she was the one to provide him with that satisfaction and when he chanted her name like mantra, her body tingled. Holding his gaze, she traced a hand down her body, gripping at her breast and tweaking her nipple before continuing down her body. Gajeel's eyes followed the trail of her hand and when Levy shifted herself and began playing with her bundle of nerves he responded with deeper and faster upward thrusts.

Levy enjoyed putting on a show for her man but with his increased fervor it wasn't long before she threw her head back, screaming his name at her release. She hadn't yet come down from her high when Gajeel tightened his hold on her hips and with one last thrust emptied himself within her.

Collapsing against Gajeel's chest while trying to catch her breath and slow her racing heart, Levy idly traced the scars on his arm while enjoying the feeling of his hands roaming across her back and drawing patterns on her skin.

"I adore you, Levy."

Crossing her arms over his chest and pushing herself up to his eye level she smiled, but before she was able to respond across the room the door knob jiggled. Levy turned to inspect the noise as Gajeel peered over her shoulder.

"Did I lock that door?" Gajeel asked aloud to himself.

The answer to that question came as the door swung open with force and Rogue bounded into the room. Levy was quickly pulled against Gajeel's chest, squeaking as she did her best to cover herself while grabbing blankets to cover her bottom half.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING, YOU ASSHOLE?" Gajeel bellowed at his brother.

Rogue laughed as he leaned against the wall, "It's nothing I've never seen before! Anyway, quit hogging my brother Levy, I wanna see him too!"

"GET OUT!" Grabbing the closest thing in reach, Gajeel threw a cup at Rogue as he retreated from the room.

Levy scrambled off Gajeel, wrapping a sheet around herself before scampering off towards the closet, which had been a good idea because just as she reached the closet the door flew open once more.

"When I said it's nothing I've not seen before, I totally meant you Gajeel, not Levy. I never actually saw anything of Levy that one time but- "

"WOULD YOU GET THE HELL OUT?!" Gajeel interrupted, Levy giggled as he leapt from the bed, naked body and all to shove his brother into the hallway then proceeding to slam and lock the door.

Levy slipped one of Gajeel's shirts over her head then slid on a pair of black leggings, "He's right you know."

"Can we please not talk about what my brother did or did not see of you that night?" Gajeel groaned and ran a hand down his face before catching the shirt Levy tossed at him.

"I wasn't referring to that, Gajeel," Levy rolled her eyes and continued, "I meant about me hogging you. As much as I would love and enjoy having you all to myself until Skiadrum comes to get you, you really should spend some time with your brother."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Toss me those shorts."

Levy did as he asked, but instead of throwing them at him she walked over to the brooding man and handed the gym shorts to him as she placed a kiss on his cheek. "I'll be downstairs, don't be grumpy."

Levy could feel his eyes on her as she stepped out of the room, he always had enjoyed seeing her ass in a pair of leggings.

…

As the time neared when Gajeel would be leaving, the atmosphere in the Redfox home turned more depressing. Gajeel had helped Rogue work on his car while Levy had made them lunch and now they were all sitting in the living room, Levy curled into Gajeel's side softly snoozing and Rogue sitting across the way glaring at his older brother.

"Spit it out, I can tell when ya want to say somethin'."

Rogue sighed and then started, "Don't do anything like this again. Seriously. Because if you hurt her again, I've got no problem swooping in and saving the day, but I'd rather not have to do that."

Gajeel smirked and looked down at the sleeping woman who was now resting on his lap, not sparing a glance back at his brother he gently stroked her hair and spoke softly, "I don't plan on ever leavin' her side after this shit is done and over. She's the best thing to ever happen to me, Rogue. So in a twisted sort of way I should thank you for what you did, it brought me to her."

"That's not the first time you've thanked me to be honest." Rogue grinned at the confused look Gajeel had across his face. "You were drunk off your ass one night with Laxus and you called me and thanked me. But, it wasn't near as nice as what you just said, it was a lot cruder in fact."

"Doesn't surprise me."

The two brothers laughed before a semi irritated Levy woke up grumbling, "Your body shakes when you laugh."

"Well good morning, sunshine." Gajeel placed a kiss to her forehead.

Rogue turned to look out the window as a black Mercedes pulled into the driveway, "Pops is here."

Gajeel sighed and looked over at Levy who was currently staring at the floor and doing a poor job at hiding the fact she was crying. Leaning over he kissed her temple and whispered into her ear.

"It'll be okay; I'll be home to you soon. I promise."

The front door opened and Skiadrum walked in, "Sorry to interrupt but it's time to go. It took a lot of convincing to allow me to bring him in versus a patrol car coming to pick him up so let's not be late."

Gajeel felt Levy's grip tighten and then slowly she released him as he watched her sit back and look up at him with an attempted smile across her face. Standing from the couch and he held out his hand for her and they walked together outside towards his step-father's car.

"Don't be stupid and you get your ass back here to me"

Gajeel laughed and smiled down at her, "Yes ma'am!"

Not dropping his smile, he leaned in to taste her lips one more time, their kiss was tender, passionate and had his step-father not interrupted them by coughing he would have taken it even further. He finished with another chaste kiss to the corner of her mouth, the taste of salt danced across his lips and he knew without even having to look for confirmation that she was crying again.

Trailing his lips to her ear he whispered, "This is horribly selfish of me, I didn't want to do this with me leaving, but at this point I don't give a damn. I love you Levy McGarden."

Moving away from her, Gajeel took a deep breath and held it, he watched as her eyes dropped to her left hand, her lips trembling as he watched her shift her hand back and forth. Light danced off of the stone that currently held her attention.

"Gajeel." She breathed.

"Wait for me?"

Gajeel swallowed waiting for her to say something more, what he didn't expect was for her to grip his shirt, pull him down to her level and crush her lips against his. He felt her smile and tasted more of her tears and then he heard the most wonderful word leave her lips.

"Yes!"

* * *

 **BOOM! One more chapter to go...please review and let me know what you think!**


	23. Chapter 23

**Long time no see/talk! I bring to you the final chapter of this fic, and might I just say oh how this story and my writing has grown! I do hope you enjoy and please let me know what you think!**

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The storm had effectively snuck up on Levy; prior to leaving her house earlier that day the sun had been high and the clouds sparse. But now as she stared out the window of the bookstore while sipping her favorite salted caramel mocha one would think it was the dead of night. The few bits of lightning accompanied by the loud booms of thunder had her wishing she were back home in the comfort of her oversized bed snuggled up with her feline companion.

The vibration of her phone sitting atop the glass table pulled her from her thoughts. She touched the screen, typing in her passcode that revealed a text message which quickly had her sighing in relief.

 _'_ _On my way.'_

She smiled, thankful that she wouldn't have to spend much longer in the bookstore, despite it being one of her favorite places. Gathering up her assortment of belongings, some of those being the new books she had acquired during her extra time spent in the store and shoved them inside her bag. Tossing it over a shoulder and giving a quick goodbye to the store clerk she ducked outside into the rain and waving down the driver of the silver jeep currently pulling up to the curb. Rain drops bounced off her body leaving a stinging sensation in their wake, and even with the short distance from the door to her ride her blue locks were now soaked.

"Did you not think to grab an umbrella this morning?" The man in the driver seat questioned.

Levy huffed and reached in the backseat to grab a hoodie, "I didn't know it was supposed to rain. It had been so pretty this morning and I thought I'd enjoy the weather, but that went really well."

"That's my hoodie!"

"Yukino won't mind, plus I'm cold!" Levy defended as she slid the article of clothing over her wet hair and clothes.

Rogue rolled his eyes and shook his head in mock frustration. It had been a long two years since Gajeel had went away. Rogue had moved out and subsequently moved into an apartment with his girlfriend, Yukino, but he always made sure to check up on Levy and help her when needed. He had made a promise with his brother, and one he intended to follow through with.

"Have you heard from him?" Rogue asked, breaking the silence inside the vehicle.

Levy shook her head with a sad smile, "No, not for a little while now." Turning to look at the man beside her she spoke up again, "Have you?"

"Nah, I had an unidentified caller yesterday but it turned out to be a telemarketer. Not heard from Pops much either, him and Mom went on vacation or something and told me only to call him if someone was dying or already dead."

Levy snickered, "Sounds like something he'd say. I'll text Laxus and ask if he's heard anything."

Pulling her phone out of her pocket, she sent a quick text to Gajeel's best friend and then laid it in the cup holder in hopes of a quick reply. Gajeel had tried to make an effort to keep in contact during his term usually once a week; if he wasn't able to reach Levy, who he always reached out to first he'd make his way down the list. But for some reason or another it had been close to two weeks since anyone had heard from him and it was beginning to worry her.

"He's fine, don't stress. Not like he can get himself into any more trouble than he already has, plus I doubt he'd even try. Hang in there, you'll hear from him. Are you able to call the jail?"

Chewing on her bottom lip, Levy took a quick glance out the window and answered, "I've never tried before, never really needed to. He's always been able to get in touch with someone whenever he's called." Her eyes darted back to the cell phone still sitting quietly in the cup holder. "Hopefully Laxus has heard from him and he texts me back soon."

She shifted her focus back out the window and traced the droplets of rain with her eyes as they ran down the glass she sighed quietly to herself. She'd recently developed a nervous habit of playing with the ring on her left hand, her thumb running over the diamond to twist and turn the band about her finger. Her gaze shifted to the diamond ring on her finger; her husband-to-be couldn't have chosen a better piece, a simple yet elegant princess cut stone with two much smaller accent diamonds on either side.

Loose change rattled inside the cup holder when Levy's phone suddenly vibrated. Quickly drawn from her admiration of her engagement ring, she snatched up her phone and unlocked the screen, hoping for a reply from her fiancé's best friend.

"Laxus?" Rogue questioned.

Levy's eyes skimmed over the text, her expression dropping for a mere second before replying,

"No, it's Lucy. She was asking if I had made it home okay due to the rain. I'm telling her you picked me up."

Rogue smiled and laughed, "Yep! Big brother Rogue came to save the day!"

Levy couldn't help but laugh as she slipped the cell phone into the front pocket of the hoodie,

"You're ridiculous!"

The rain had still not let up by the time Rogue had parked the car in the driveway. Pulling up the hood on her borrowed hoodie and grabbing her bag full of books, Levy thanked him and sprinted from the car to the safety of her covered porch. Keys already in hand, she quickly stuck the key in the deadbolt, unlocking the door and practically ran inside.

Pushing the hood off her head and shaking out her wet locks of hair, she set her bag on the floor beside the couch before sitting down and removing her boots. After setting them beside the door to dry and grabbing her unfinished book, she made her way upstairs in hopes of changing into drier, more comfortable clothing to finish out her evening in.

"That's strange, I don't remember shutting this door before leaving this morning." She muttered to herself while standing outside the bedroom door. Shrugging her shoulders, she turned the knob and pushed the door open, quickly stepping aside as a black bolt of fur raced out of the room. "Oh no, Lily! Were you locked in here all day?"

"Not sure how I feel about seein' my woman wearin' another man's clothes."

Levy eyes widened when she heard the deep rumble of that voice she loved so dearly coming from behind her and nearly startling her into running off in the same direction Lily had taken off to. She was hearing things, she had to be. If she turned her head right now he wouldn't actually be there; it was only her mind playing dirty tricks on her.

With a breath held deep in her chest she slowly turned to face into the room and if her ears had been playing tricks, then her eyes were being even more cruel. Standing in the middle of the bedroom was the owner of that voice, the man she had given her whole heart too, her fiancé; Gajeel Redfox.

"Gajeel." She tentatively stepped forward, still unsure if the sight in front of her was real or not. She had dreamt of him so many nights and they'd all seemed so real(,) only for her to wake up alone in their oversized bed.

He moved quickly, wrapping an arm around her waist and crushing her body to his as his other arm circled around her. He smelled different but under that new and foreign scent was that bit of metallic essence she had missed. She succumbed to it, wrapping her arms around him and burying her face in his chest as he laid his head atop her own.

She raised her head and felt him lift his from her hair; her face was tear stained and ever so gently he wiped away the fresh ones as they escaped with his thumbs. Levy opened her mouth to speak but was instantly hushed as Gajeel swallowed her unspoken words in a long(,) overdue kiss.

She sighed as they separated and somehow managed to get actual words out, "You're here?"

He silenced her rambling with another searing kiss. "I will answer all your questions and more, I promise. But for now, please, just let me hold you, Levy."

The sound of her name coming from him was her undoing and before she realized, it he had scooped her up in his arms and was walking towards their bed.

….

He wasn't asleep, but he had allowed her to drift off. He couldn't sleep, not when she was back in his arms again. And if he were honest, he was afraid if he closed his eyes for even just a moment he'd be faced with the possibility this was all dream. He had been having similar dreams like this the past two years, but he hadn't been able to experience her fully in his dreams, not like he had tonight. Her touch, her heat, the sounds she made, her scent, none of those things had been in his dreams.

Slowly he slipped his arm from around her and shifted, swinging his legs off the bed. He let his eyes adjust to the dark before scouring the floor for his boxers amongst the various articles of clothing littering the floor.

He eyed them near the middle of the room tangled up in Levy's bra, lifting his large physique from the bed. He heard her shift from behind him and he stopped when he felt her hand wrap around his wrist.

"Please, don't leave," she pleaded with a yawn.

"Never," he quietly reassured her, "Not now, not ever again am I leaving you." He slipped back between the sheets not giving a second thought about the boxers he had been on a mission for just mere moments before.

He pulled her closer to him and she settled her hand against his chest as she quickly fell back asleep. The same hand that now housed the ring he had given her before they had had to be separated two very, very long years ago.

Even in the moonlight it shimmered, he couldn't have made a better choice in the style; simple and elegant. Nothing would have looked more beautiful on her finger than this ring, except for the wedding band that was made to accompany it. Entwining their fingers together, he brought the ring to his lips and brushed a kiss to finger that held the stone.

"Gajeel?"

"Did I wake you?" He breathed against her hand still resting at his lips.

"No," she answered, her voice laced with sleep.

He quietly chuckled, "You've never been very good at lying, Levs."

She pulled her hand away only for it to settle against his cheek as she positioned herself better to look into his face, "I don't mind. I'd rather not spend this night sleeping only for you to leave again tomorrow."

"Who said I'm leaving?"

She sat up quickly, and either she had completely forgotten she was still entirely in the nude or all modesty had been thrown out the window, but Gajeel couldn't help but appreciate the bounce in her breasts as she stared down at him.

She allowed his eyes to linger a bit longer before she opened her mouth to speak, "You're staying?"

He trailed a finger up her arm and felt her shiver, her eyes still staring at him in question, his lips turned up at one corner as his finger slid up her neck. He knew her well enough to know she was fighting an inner battle with herself not to give in; not to close her eyes and just let herself be swept away by his touch. As he finally settled his palm against her cheek, she leaned into it.

"I'm home, Levy." That was all he said; that was all that needed to be said in this moment. His hand dropped to behind her neck to bring her down to him and when she was finally close enough, he pressed his lips against her while rolling her underneath him.

He could hear her panting as he trailed hot, open mouth kisses across her jaw and down her neck. "You said you'd answer my questions."

Gajeel stopped and lifted himself to look down at her, a studded brow raised in bewilderment. "You want me to stop?"

She shook her head and Gajeel laughed against her lips. "Morning," was all she managed to get out before he slipped back inside her and had her writhing in pleasure for the third time that night.

Before rolling out of bed that morning, Gajeel kissed Levy's brow. He didn't expect her to be awake for at least another hour, so with another quick kiss he then sauntered off towards the bathroom. Already stripped from the previous night's activities, he flipped on the hot water and didn't bother waiting for it to warm; he was use to cold showers at this point.

He braced his hands against the wall and let the stream of water flow down his back; his long black hair hung in a wet heap across his shoulders and down his chest. He watched as the water spun in circles around the drain before vanishing through the metal hole in the floor of the shower, and as he just stood there, staring, his mind wandering away from him.

 _"_ _Did you have anything to do with me gettin' my parole granted this early?"_

 _Skiadrum sighed and shook his head has he pulled out onto the road, "No. I didn't pull any strings this time around. To be honest I didn't have any favors left to call in, I used them all up keeping you out of prison."_

 _Gajeel nodded his head and pulled a small bag out of the larger tote the jail guard had given him before he had left. He flipped the overhead mirror down and started assessing if it was worth the effort of putting his piercings back in._

 _"_ _You look better without the face full of metal." His stepfather grumbled._

 _Gajeel snorted and stuck the first rod through his eyebrow with only a slight wince._

 _"_ _See even your face agrees."_

 _Gajeel finished one brow and started on the other, "Holes'r still there, might as well fill 'em." He finished with a satisfied smile and started on his ears next, "How is she?"_

 _"_ _I was wondering when you were going to ask, you took longer than I thought you would," A low snarl came from the passenger seat. "She's great, she's missed you. Rogue moved out, but you knew that, so it's just been her. Your mother and I would invite her to dinner occasionally and she would oblige us every now and then." Skiadrum cringed as he caught Gajeel screwing in one of his forearm piercings._

 _"_ _I knew about that as well. She didn't want to feel like she was imposing and she'd never say it out loud, but being there probably made her feel even more lonely. I was hoping she'd go stay with Lucy, but she only did that a few times as well."_

 _The car stopped at a red light and Gajeel twisted the last of his piercings into his forearm and tossed the smaller bag into the backseat._

 _"_ _If you knew so much about her, why did you even ask?" Skiadrum turned left when the light turned green._

 _"_ _Habit I guess. She doesn't tell me everything, only to keep me from worrying; a lot of good that does. She doesn't know I'm out; I'm hopin' to surprise her."_

Gajeel abruptly returned from his thoughts when he heard the bathroom door open and heard shuffling inside the room. He pulled back a small portion of the curtain to see Levy rummaging through a cabinet.

"Have you had coffee yet? Last I checked it wasn't nine yet," he asked with a chuckle.

Levy feigned a laugh and turned around to glare at him.

Gajeel filled the bathroom with his unique laughter, "Believe it or not, I missed that look. What'r ya doin'?" He turned the water off and reached for the towel hanging on the hook nearby, wrapping the cloth around his waist as he stepped out of the shower, water droplets collecting on the rug beneath his feet.

She faltered, then caught his eye as she spoke, "You were gone when I woke up."

Gajeel frowned as he slowly approached her, taking her head between his hands he began rubbing gentle circles at her temples with his thumbs, "I'm not going anywhere, Levs. I'm home. I was granted parole and I'm not goin' back."

Levy swallowed and tried to speak, but it was a failed effort. Gajeel just smiled down at her then

bent to kiss her; her lips tasted of her tears.

"C'mon, I'm gonna put some clothes on and make us coffee, then you can ask me all the questions ya want."

Levy laughed. Oh how he had missed that wonderful sound! "I'll make the coffee, you never make it strong enough. Like you said, it's not even nine o'clock yet."

She turned and skipped from the room, but not before Gajeel got a good smack against her greatest asset. She whipped around to face him with pursed lips and puffed cheeks, thus Gajeel couldn't help but laugh.

"And I've also missed _that_ look!"

….

It was three days later when Gajeel nearly had Levy choking while drinking her morning coffee, saying, "Let's get married. Today."

"I'm sorry, what?" she questioned after finding the ability to breathe again.

"What? Let's just go get hitched, you don't really have a family, no offense."

"None taken."

"And I don't really care for my family, so let's go. Right now."

Levy shook her head while sitting down at the table across from him. "You're serious. Gajeel, we can't just up and go to the courthouse. I'd like to have a small wedding, and your family loves you dearly and would be heartbroken if they missed out on something like this. Plus, I want to wear a wedding dress; I want to see you in a tux and I would like for our friends to be a part of our special day. Don't take this away from me; a woman spends most of her life planning her wedding day."

He groaned, "Fine, but I'm only agreeing because it's you. Well then, how soon could we get married? Doesn't that all take a lot of planning?"

Levy took a sip from her mug. "Next weekend."

Gajeel squinted and stared back in disbelief.

"It was a long two years, I already have it all done."

"This is why I love you," He pushed his back his chair he strolled over and gathered her into his arms, slipping his arm under her knees and pulling her against his chest. "All I have to do is show up right?"

Levy smiled and pecked his lips. "Pretty much. Only person I need to still follow up with is the DJ."

"Yer lookin' at him, babe."

"Oh no, you'll be too busy being the _groom_ to be the DJ, Gajeel!"

Gajeel gave a low growl as Levy shimmied her way out of his arms and back to the floor. He eyed her as she picked up her mug from the table and walked over to the sink. "Yer lucky yer cute, ya know that?"

"I'll let you perform one song. But only one, so make it count!"

Levy squeaked as she was quickly hefted back into Gajeel's arms and stripped of her shirt, somehow all in the same motion. "Gajeel, I was getting ready to make us breakfast!"

"I'll take my breakfast in bed."

…

"If you don't stop fidgeting I'll stab you with this needle."

"Love you too, mother dearest," Gajeel huffed.

His mother was fussing over the boutonniere and he was a nervous wreck; today was his wedding day. A week ago he had been ready to walk into a courthouse with Levy and make things official, but she had put her pretty little foot down and insisted on having a ceremony. Now the day was finally here and he would be lucky if he could continue remembering how to breathe.

"Done. Now take a deep breath, your dad should be here soon."

The door opened as if on cue and in strutted Skiadrum, who was busy messing with his cufflinks. Winking at Gajeel he kissed Gemma and shooed her out the door, claiming the two of them needed some man time.

Once the door was closed after Gemma's exit, his stepfather turned and winked at him, pulling a flask from the inside of his tux. "I figured you'd need this," he said handing it over to Gajeel.

"I can't do this."

"Course ya can, it's just Jack!"

"No," Gajeel said taking a swig and handing the liquor back to his stepfather. "I mean marry her, or rather allow her to marry me. I'm a screw up, I've nothin' to offer her."

"Shit, this isn't strong enough. Look, son, somehow or another you got a woman who is madly in love with you, believe it or not," Skiadrum waved off the glare from his step-son and took a drink. "It's true! Anyway, enough of this. You're more than enough for her, and she loves you just the way you are."

Gajeel nodded his head. He might not admit it aloud but Skiadrum was right, somehow or another he had been gifted with a tremendous amount of luck when it came to his relationship with Levy. He would fight until his last breath to be a man she could love and be proud of.

"She looks stunning by the way." Skiadrum cut through the silence with a statement that had Gajeel penetrating the man with his eyes.

"And how would you know?" Gajeel questioned, turning to face his stepfather and crossing his arms over his broad chest.

"I wouldn't be who I am if I didn't walk in on our little fairy at the most impromptu times," his mouth turned upwards in a smirk.

Gajeel took a deep breath while closing his eyes and pinching the bridge of his nose, "I'm beginning to think you do all that shit on purpose, old man. At the rate you're going you'll end up in the delivery room with her whenever we have our first kid!"

Skiadrum's smirk grew and Gajeel rolled his eyes.

"Your thoughts can just stop right there, because for one that will never happen, and two I'd kill you, my old man or not."

The men laughed, Skiadrum draped an arm around his step-son's shoulder; one of the few people who actually could considering his height and guided the two of them towards the door.

"Let's go get you hitched, son."

The venue was simple but no less elegant that what Levy fully deserved Gajeel thought. The mixture of bright yellow sunflowers and assorted gerbera daisies were utter perfection, and he wasn't even the floral type. His best friend stood beside him as his lone groomsmen and best man, and Lucy would soon walk through the floral archway as maid of honor and give way to what would be the best moment of his life thus far.

The music picked up and Lucy waltzed around the corner, her soft orange chiffon gown sweeping the ground with each step. She looked beautiful if Gajeel were being honest, but his heart didn't kick up a notch until the music shifted and Lucy took her place opposite Laxus.

Despite the music, the flash photography and the soft murmurs of their guests there was no one else present save for Gajeel and Levy in this moment. Gajeel didn't even fight the tear that escaped the corner of his eye and streaked across his cheek, didn't even brush it away.

His stepfather had been right, she was stunning; no, stunning wasn't the word he could use now. There was no word that could do her justice. Her wedding gown hugged her curves and he smiled as he imagined what was beneath all that lace and silk, he knew those curves like the back of his hand and could map them blindfolded.

That dress. Perfectly fitted and slightly flared at the bottom, all lace and silk and a delicate strand of pearls around her slender neck which was on full display thanks to the simple but low neckline of that dress. Gajeel couldn't decide if he preferred her in it or wanted her out of it; he would just have to have her both ways.

Suddenly, she was standing in front of him, her smile warm and radiant. He watched as she turned to hand her bouquet to Lucy, and noticed the back of her dress, or rather the lack there of save for a single strand of pearls that curved down her spine. His jaw nearly hit the floor; the lace curved just above her hips and accentuated the perfection that was her lower half.

He was itching to touch her. To ground himself, he reached out and took her hands in his after she pivoted back from Lucy, her smile stretched across her face. The minister began speaking but the two of them were lost in their own world.

It took the laughter from their friends and family and the minister repeating himself a few times before Gajeel was able to pull himself back to reality to recite his vows.

"I vow to love you each and every day, night and morning, even before you've had your much needed gallon of coffee.I vow to be a man worthy of your love and devotion and promise to make you the happiest woman every day for the rest of our lives."

Gajeel smiled as Levy wiped a tear from her cheek before turning around to ask for her ring from Laxus. Sliding it onto her delicate finger his heart began to swell in happiness.

Then it was her turn. "I vow to love you every day, night and morning, even at your grumpiest. I vow to be a woman who will challenge you to be the best man you can be and to love in all life's adventures. I promise to spend the rest of my life making you the happiest man you could ever possibly be."

Before the ring was settled on his finger and the minister declared them husband and wife, Gajeel had pulled his new bride into his arms and kissed her as if his life depended on it, her lips gave him life and woke his body and soul up in ways he never knew possible.

"I now present to you, Mr. and Mrs. Gajeel Redfox."

* * *

 **The End! haha! There is an epilogue coming and I promise (seriously) it will not take another uber long time for me to share it! So please look forward to it, until then I'll mark this fic complete! Please let me know what you think! Thank you everyone who has stuck by me, my life has been a terrible roller coaster over the last year and half but I'm finally on the uphill climb! I love you all 3**


	24. Epilogue

Levy released a sigh as she straightened her posture, both hands resting on her lower back. What was once a simple task, like taking laundry out of the dryer had since become more than a chore nowadays. Inhaling deeply, she bent at the knees, picking up and awkwardly holding the basket full of clothes; she really shouldn't have filled it this full.

Waddling towards the stairs she frowned as the next trek spanned before her, with a low grumble and another deep breath she took her first step and was saved by the doorbell. Pivoting towards the door, she set down the overflowing basket and slowly made her way towards her guest.

Pulling the door open she was greeted by a smiling Skiadrum complete with a bag in each hand; the blue tissue paper carelessly hanging out the top; it wasn't hard to determine who had put these particular gifts together.

"How's my favorite daughter in-law today?" he inquired, stepping into the room as Levy shut the door behind him.

"You had better not let Yukino hear you say that," Levy admonished.

"She's not my daughter-in-law, yet, and you are; so, for the time being you hold the crown. We can have a competition after the wedding; see you two battle it out for the coveted title of favorite." His returning smile was devious.

Levy shook her head with an eye roll and waddled towards the kitchen, "Do you want something to drink?"

"Nah can't stay for very long. Just wanted to drop these off," he set the bags down and his eyes settled on the basket of laundry sitting at the foot of the stairs, "You weren't actually planning on toting that up the stairs were you? What is that useless son of mine doing making you carry heavy loads up a flight of stairs in your condition?"

Levy strolled back into the living room, "I hadn't made it very far before you arrived. And, please don't tell him. He'll fuss and I really can't handle his fussing!"

Rubbing her temples Levy reminded herself that she in fact did love her husband, but she was currently fed up with the man and it had taken all she had to finally convince him to go back to work at the gym and not be home with her all day. If he wasn't brooding about the house he was fussing at her for doing more than she should, and with her hormones out of whack at the moment he was liable to face her wrath or a cry fest if he so much as blinked in her direction.

"Well, I can do this much for you. I shall keep your secret so long as you let me carry this up the stairs. If something were to happen, I'd rather not die at the hands of my son because I could have prevented it."

Leaning down to pick the basket up Levy noticed the upturn of his mouth, following his eyes she quickly noticed a pair of underwear laying atop the mountain of clothes; her underwear.

"On second thought," she started.

"Not anything I've not seen before, in fact if my memory serves me well enough, I've seen a lot _less._ "

Levy whined and flicked her hand, giving him the okay to haul the clothes up the stairs; she could still hear his snickering, "Just set it on the floor, I'll work on them later." She hollered up after him.

Her back was aching, she was still a good two weeks from her due date and at this point she wasn't sure if her body could handle much more. Her small frame made carrying a baby difficult, especially a Redfox baby and this little boy just loved to make things difficult for his mother.

Rubbing her belly as she sat down on the couch she spoke softly to her son, "A nap sounds really nice right doesn't it?"

Her reply came in the form of a solid kick.

"Yeah, I figured you'd say that."

Her father in-law stood across the room, arms crossed over his broad chest and a smile plastered on his face. This would be his first grandchild and whereas Gajeel wasn't his biological son, he might as well be and he couldn't be happier for the family expansion. He approached Levy, still smiling and admiring the swell of her stomach.

"He's pretty active today, do you want to feel?" She offered, returning his smile with one of her own.

Gently, Skiadrum laid his hand on her belly and laughed when he felt the baby moving about.

"Have you guys decided on a name yet?"

Levy shook her head, "No, not yet. Gajeel said we'll name him once we see him. He talks to the baby every night; it's amazing to feel him react to the sound of his father's voice."

A quick contraction rolled through her, scrunching her face up in pain, Skiadrum whipped his hand away and went wide eyed.

"I didn't do it!" he quickly defended himself.

"It wasn't you!" she grunted in reply, arms wrapped around her swollen belly, "Oh," she stated simply staring down at the floor.

"I don't like 'Oh.'"

Levy lifted her gaze to the man, lips trembling, "I think my water broke."

"He's gonna kill me. I am as good as dead," the man mumbled as he paced back and forth.

Levy took a few deep breaths and grabbed him by his forearm, "I need you to take me to the hospital, but first I need you to grab the red bag sitting beside the door of Gajeel and mine's bedroom."

Skiadrum stood, still as a wall and with eyes as wide as saucers, it wasn't until Levy bellowed a pain stricken ' _Go!'_ that he ran; hustling up the steps to grab the bag and then rushing back down to assist her to his car parked outside.

"Which hospital?" he inquired, turning the ignition over and snapping his seatbelt in place.

"Magnolia General…ughhh! Call...Gaj….oh Mavis here comes another!" Levy's face contorted as the contraction ripped through her body.

Grabbing his cell, he skimmed through his contacts, found the name he was looking for and hit the call button. After completing the call he shoved the phone back in his pocket then began backing down the driveway and onto the street. He took off towards the hospital as Levy was writhing in the seat next to him one hand on her belly and the other squeezing the hell out of the armrest.

Skiadrum turned a corner, too quickly for Levy's liking and was rewarded with a few curses and more incoherent noises. In order to keep from having his first grandson in the passenger seat of his car he took the next turn with a bit more ease; it still wasn't good enough.

Thankfully his car was built for speed and a few moments later he was pulling into the hospital and parking on the curb by the main entrance. Levy was hunched over in the seat breathing deeply and moaning as Rogue opened the door.

"I have a wheelchair here, let's get you out and upstairs." he stated calmly, unclipping the seatbelt and wrapping a strong arm around his sister in-law.

"Where's Gajeel?" Levy grunted, settling herself in the chair.

Rogue flashed a look towards his father whose face blanched; which did not go unnoticed by

Levy. "I thought he was already here or with you guys when Dad called me?"

"I'm going to go park the car-"

"-YOU CALLED ROGUE AND NOT MY HUSBAND?"

Skiadrum jumped behind the wheel of his car and hurried off towards the parking lot, leaving Rogue to handle the angry little pregnant lady he had now managed to make even more enraged.

Rogue cupped Levy's shoulder, gently massaging the joint with his thumb, "Let's get you upstairs and while they get you settled I will call my brother."

Levy replied with a hum and eased back in the chair as her body finally relaxed. A nurse met them just outside the maternity ward and took over delivering Levy to her room and getting her prepped while Rogue stayed out in the hall to call Gajeel. He was just hanging up when his father rounded the corner looking rough, rode hard, and put away wet.

"Is there any specific reason you called me, the uncle, and not the actual father of the baby?"

Skiadrum dragged a hand through his salt and pepper hair, "I was scared to death and went for the contact labeled 'son' in my cell."

Rogue lifted an eyebrow and started to ask what Gajeel was labeled but at that moment the nurse stepped out of Levy's room to let them know they were welcome to join her inside.

Various cords were coming and going from Levy's body. The monitors said cords were attached to were beeping in different intervals, one monitor in particular had Levy's attention. "This one here," she pointed to a screen filled with squiggling lines, "is the baby's heartbeat and the one above it is monitoring my contractions. You can actually see when one is going to occur and the intensity."

Rogue smiled as he watched the baby's heartbeat, "Gajeel will be here soon, he was at the gym so thankfully he doesn't have to deal with the extra traffic." he answered, replying to Levy's silent question.

Roughly an hour later a flustered Gajeel barreled through the door, his body eased as he zoned in on his wife and noticed she was still very much pregnant and he hadn't missed the birth of his first child. Her smile warmed him and quite possibly saved the life of his step-father as his eyes moved towards his direction.

"Yer lucky that babe hasn't been born yet or you'd be a dead man." Gajeel's eyes roved the room, "Where's mom?"

Skiadrum's eyes vastly grew, Gajeel and Rogue shook their heads.

"You're liable to still be a dead man if you don't call her regarding the birth of her first grandchild." Levy chimed in.

Hoisting himself up from the chair he had been lounging in, he made his way over the bedside and placed a hand on Levy's shoulder, "At least I got you here. The day Gemma went into labor with Rogue? I took off for the hospital in such a hurry I left her at the house. I ran into the hospital shouting about my wife having a baby and it wasn't until someone asked me where she was that I realized I hadn't brought her with me."

"Father of the year," Rogue deadpanned.

With the wave of a single finger Skiadrum pulled open the door and disappeared into the hallway.

Sauntering over to the small sink in the corner of the room Gajeel dampened a washcloth with cool water and came to stand beside his wife. Rogue settled himself into the chair previously occupied by his father, and without leaving the room, gave the couple as much privacy as he could.

"How ya feelin, shorty?" He asked, wiping away the sweat sticking to her forehead.

"I'm hungry, really hungry. I'm not allowed to eat when in active labor and at this point I would _kill_ for a cheeseburger."

"Gihi! We'll get ya burger as soon as yer able to eat one!" Staring up at all the monitors he was about to ask what all they were but at that moment a nurse decided to stroll into the room.

"Let's check your progress!" she practically sang.

Rogue hopped up from the chair and moved towards the door, turning his back to read the assorted materials posted to the wal, finding particular interest in one that discussed the newborn's first bath. He could hear the shuffling as the nurse lifted the sheet from Levy and snapped her purple latex free gloves against her wrists.

"Oh!" she chirped.

"Oh?" Levy echoed in question.

"Eh?" Gajeel was just lost at this point.

The nurse looked up and smiled, "Let's have a baby! You're ready!"

Gajeel's eyes bulged as his attention shifted to Levy, her eyes mirroring his. They just stared at each other, totally oblivious to the world around them; Rogue had slipped out to go wait for his mother along with his father and the nurse was chatting on her hospital cell to the doctor.

Gajeel's head was swimming with thoughts; how much he loved this woman and how absolutely wonderful she was, how had a man like him been blessed so deeply? He was going to be a father; would he even be a good father? He hadn't exactly had the best example, not considering his step-father.

"You're going to be a wonderful father."

And just like that, he was grounded.

"Did I say all that out loud?"

Levy shook her head with a smile, "No. I just know you. You're not your father, you are you and no one else and I and this little boy will love you for all of our days."

His smile was blinding and if the nurse saw his more than obvious tears she never showed any inclination when she trotted back over and happily cheered, "Get ready to push!"

…

"Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear Axel, happy birthday to you!"

Cheers and clapping ensued as the two year old blew out the candles on his cake and shoved a handful of the dessert into his mouth. The party had been the best excuse for a long overdue reunion amongst friends and family.

Their son had been born with a heart murmur and had fought for his life for a good part of his first year of life. After a very successful surgery when he was thirteen months old, he was now a healthy toddler and well on his way to being a typical Redfox, and causing enough mischief and mayhem to make up for that first year.

"Son, you're supposed to wait until the cake is cut." Gajeel laughed as he ran a hand through his son's black hair, mussing the unruly locks he had so clearly received from his mother.

"Oh, let him be! You're only two once and as far as I'm concerned he can do whatever he damn well pleases!"

Pursing her lips and jabbing a finger in the direction of her father in-law, "Watch that language around him! He's repeating everything nowadays. Gajeel made a statement and slipped up and it has taken us nearly two weeks to get him to stop saying what he heard."

"Well now I'm curious as to what was said," Rogue chimed in.

"Yeah really, you can't just lead us on like that, Levy. You should know better." Laxus added.

The peculiar laughter from behind her came from none other than her husband who was now standing beside her with their son in his arms. "What I said was…"

Levy reached up and covered Axel's ears but the toddler was having none of it, he shoved her hands away and with a big and proud smile he shouted, "Mommy 'as a nice ass!"

Laughter erupted and with a face red as a tomato and burning with defeat, Levy gave in and joined them. "Honey, you don't say things like that!"

Skiadrum stepped forward and took the toddler from Gajeel's arms; Axel happily went with his grandfather. "He's just telling the truth and judging by the little number mommy left lying on the floor upstairs he could very well be a big brother soon!"

Levy's face went scarlet for an entirely different reason.

"Pops, are you ever going to stop sexually harassing poor Levy?" Rogue questioned.

"Nope."

As the party went on, Gajeel and Levy found themselves alone and off from the group. Gajeel stared at his family and friends and his son happily interacting with everyone around him.

"We've come a long way, haven't we?"

Levy's question made him smile because they had indeed come a very long way. He had never said it out loud but he hadn't been entirely certain Axel would ever see his second birthday and the toll their marriage had took during that first year of their son's life had been by far one of the hardest things he had ever dealt with. The fights, the tears, the lonely nights where Levy had stayed at the hospital versus being in their bed with him. For a time he had been jealous, jealous of his son, an innocent child who had simply needed his mother. But he had also needed his father and when Gajeel finally woke up and took his own needs out of the equation his wife's smile returned and his son's health suddenly improved.

Gajeel was still learning how to be a husband and now he was learning how to be a father. He was fairly certain he would spend the rest of his life doing so, but at least it was something worth learning, and he had the most wonderful reasons in the world to learn how to be the best he could be.

"You're a wonderful husband and even more wonderful father. You're doing the best you can, and we love you."

Gajeel felt her arms encircle him and he turned to wrap himself around her, burying his face in her neck and hair. "You always know. You... always know. Fuck, I love you so damn much."

"I love you too," Levy ran her fingers through his hair as he nuzzled at her, "say, while we've got the opportunity why don't we go work on that second baby?" she giggled.

For an answer, Gajeel swept her up in his arms and bounded towards the house, her laughter ringing in his ears. To hell if anyone saw them, which he wasn't stupid, they would know what they were up to. But, if anyone did happen to see them escape (everyone did) no one said a thing.

* * *

And there it is, THE END! I am now going to be focusing on Heart and Keep It On the Ice. I'm also going to be working on outlining a future story, but I'd like to get some more headway into the other two first. So please, if you've not read those yet check them out because I will be updating them soon and I've lots of amazing ideas in my head. I hope you all have enjoyed this fic, it has grown so much from the beginning. Anyway, leave me your thoughts and please check out my other works!

THANK YOU!


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